What do You think about Bill's New Frock (2002)?
I can remember reading this book as a young child and being throughly entertained by Anne Fine's marvellous writing style. She has a brilliantly witty narrative which completely engaged my young self. The story centres around the protagonist, Bill, who wakes up to find he has woken up as the opposite gender. Shocked and confused, the antics he gets up to are entertaining and enthralling to read. One of Fine's best work and it really is a timeless book. Being forced to wear a pink frilly dress and having nobody understand his dilemma makes this humorous tale perfect for upper KS2 pupils. This is the kind of book which I hope to share with Year 4+ pupils as it's quite a gender neutral text and naturally appeals to all. Some great curriculum links, especially to PSHCE with developing empathy, relating to Bill's experiences etc. Generally this is a lovely story and one certainly worth sharing.
—Anna (BooksandBookends)
My third review is of Anne Fines story, Bills New Frock that was first published in 1989. The story utilises the idea of waking up having swapped gender. This is a really popular idea, as illustrated by numerous other media products which employ this type of storyline. The story centres around boy named Bill Simpson, who wakes up one morning to find he is unknowingly morphed into a girl. Upon waking up and finding himself in this peculiar situation, Bill seeks his mum for help but all she offers is a frilly pink dress which he is made to wear and is sent off to school. This is only the beginning, at school Bill faces numerous of challenges as a result of his new found gender including encounters with the school bully, not been able to do tasks he used to as a boy and new pressures with regards to his school work. However worst of all, Bill is cast to play Rapunzel in the school play. The day is filled with adventures and events that Bill has never before encountered and is a huge learning curve for him. By the end of the day, the pink dress is tattered and muddy and all Bill is happy about is never having to wear the dress again. I think this sorry by Anne Fine is a great teaching tool to use in order to reflect ideas of respect, empathy and considering the feelings of others. Furthermore this story teaches students to think about and understand differences between males and females. This story really gets the students to use their imagination and put themselves in the position of Bill and familiar settings and events help do this. Again, much like the other two books, this book is targeted towards the older primary school students.
—Livash Ramduth
This is a story of a boy called Bill, who surprisingly one day wakes up and finds out that he has turned into a girl. No one else seems shocked about this, so Bill is forced to continue his day at school as a girl. He finds it difficult as girls are treated differently at his school and becomes very frustrated and upset at how he is expected to behave in a certain way, as a girl. Towards the end of the story, the way boys treat girls is questioned and as readers we never really find out if his day was a dream or not. I like this book as it challenges the stereotypes of how girls and boys are suppose to behave in society. In the book, girls' options are limited, whereas boys seem to have more freedom and more opportunities to behave badly and get dirty. Traditional values and morals are enforced in this book of how girls are expected to behave, perhaps it will make younger readers question aspects such as why ( if this happens) they do not let girls play football. Although I do believe that perhaps the book is slightly dated as the barriers of equality and stereotyping are becoming more narrow. More frequently boys and girls are playing games together in today's society and the label of the ''tom- boy" has been created. This book could be used for independent reading in a year four class or it could be used in a history lesson, when discussing how men and women were expected to behave in certain times.
—Kerrie
