Vicky dan Jade bertetangga. Sejak kelas satu SD, keduanya satu sekolah dan bersahabat meskipun memiliki sifat yang berbeda. Vicky pengatur dan banyak maunya, sedangkan Jade pemalu dan pengekor. Jade sering mengikuti kemauan Vicky, bahkan mengerjakan PRnya! Suatu hari sepulang dari sekolah. Keduanya berdebat tentang kegiatan ekstrakulikuler yang hendak mereka ikuti di SMP. Vicky ingin mengikuti lari gembira, sedangkan Jade berminat pada teater. Saat berdebat, Vicky berlari ke jalan raya tanpa memerhatikan mobil yang lewat. Akibatnya Vicky tertabrak mobil dan meninggal tak lama kemudian. Jade sedih, namun satu jam berikutnya Vicky sudah muncul kembali di sisinya sebagai hantu. Vicky bisa terbang dan mengubah penampilan sesuai keinginannya. Hanya Jade yang bisa berbicara dan melihat Vicky. Sejak saat itu, Vicky semakin menguasai Jade. Ia memaksa Jade ikut kegiatan ekskul lari gembira, mencela teman-teman yang mengosipinya bahkan mengejek Sam. Padahal Sam yang bertubuh gemuk hanya kasihan dan ingin berteman dengan Jade. Di bawah pengaruh hantu Vicky, Jade bertingkah semakin aneh. Di mata orangtua, guru dan teman-temannya, Jade terlihat sering berbicara, tertawa dan bermain sendiri. Jade tidak berani mengatakan bahwa ia sedang bersama hantu Vicky. Untunglah seorang guru sangat peduli pada Jade. Ia mempertemukan Jade dengan seorang ibu yang pernah kehilangan anak perempuannya. Ibu tersebut juga pernah merasa dihantui oleh anaknya tersebut. Si ibu memberikan kiat-kiat untuk melawan hantu Vicky. Meskipun ada hantu-hantunya, novel anak karya Jacqueline Wilson ini tidak seram. Hantu Vicky bukan seperti kuntilanak atau hantu-hantu di film horor. Hantu Vicky hadir karena Jade terguncang atas kematian Vicky. Orangtua Vicky yang juga bermasalah semakin memperparah kondisi kejiwaan Jade. Jacqueline berhasil mengangkat masalah kejiwaan seorang anak yang tengah berduka. Novel ini akan semakin asyik jika dibaca dan didiskusikan masalahnya dengan orangtua atau orang dewasa lainnya, sebab ada kultur barat yang tersirat dalam cerita. Buku yang terbit di Inggris ini sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia dan diterbitkan oleh Gramedia.
Vicky and Jade are best friends. Vicky is a flamboyant and outgoing girl while Jade is shy and timid and usually follows Vicky's lead. After fighting about which extra-curricular activity to take together and arguing as Jade finally sticks up for herself, Vicky dashes out on to the road without looking and is struck by a car. Jade travels to the hospital in the ambulance with Vicky, however Vicky dies from her internal injuries in hospital. Distraught and in shock, Jade runs from the hospital. However, just an hour after her death Vicky appears to Jade as a ghost, although she is the only one who can see or hear her. Jade attends Vicky's funeral, and afterwards is revisited by Vicky's ghost. When Jade returns to school, she is encouraged to attend the fun-running activity Vicky had signed them up for. There, she makes an unlikely friend in Fatboy Sam, who Jade originally assumed had a crush on Vicky; he later reveals it was Jade he had a crush on. However, Vicky is snide about her friendship with Sam, influencing Jade into saying cruel things to him, although he forgives her.As Jade tries to get used to life without Vicky, or at least without a Vicky that other people can see, Vicky's spectre becomes more and more controlling. Jade is forced to do as Vicky wishes, and can't get on with her life and make new friends. Jade finally goes to a bereavement counsellor and discovers how to control Vicky. Eventually she must attend the inquest into Vicky's death. During it, she is overcome with guilt and emotion when trying to recall Vicky's death and she flees the court building, running down the street and into the road where she is nearly hit by a car. Vicky appears and pulls her back. Vicky tells Jade that the accident was not her fault, freeing her from her guilt. After saving Jade's life, Vicky grows angel wings and can finally move on, floating into the sky and leaving Jade to move on with her life.
What do You think about Vicky Angel (2007)?
This was a really sad book of Jacqueline Wilson's, very emotionally charged and a little scary.It wasn't a very delicate book, it strongly illustrates the emotions of Vicky's best friend, who is heartbroken, shocked and confused, grieving her best friend's death.I didn't really LOVE the book, it was kind of creepy how Vicky's 'ghost' keeps appearing in the book being spiteful to her saddened friend. It was a bit of an interesting book, but it almost threatened to mix up my views of the dead and turn it into something of terror.This book wasn't really my taste. It was an okay read, but not really that exciting, or funny, or happy or anything I enjoy reading in a book. ALL of it was practically surrounding death and terror. I don't like dwelling on death - I prefer looking at the life in things.
—Shakaela
One thing I've noticed about the books on this list is that a lot of them are very sad. I suppose people remember books that make them feel sad, or maybe people voted for books that helped them deal with their own grief or something. This one is about a young girl called Jade who is grieving for her friend Vicky, who has been run over and killed in front of her. Anyway, it's very good, engaging, nicely written. Loses a star for being a tiny bit too worthy and predictable. Wilson points out in the author interview which is included in my edition that children's books tend not to mention death these days, though it was a common topic for children's literature on the 19th century (though it would have to be, wouldn't it, because children were so much more exposed to death then, given mortality rates for young children - their siblings and women in childbirth - their mothers). She says she's deliberately written this book as a response to that, and it does sometimes feel a bit as if it was written to address a topic - she even makes references to that model of the stages of loss. But she creates some great characters here, which makes up for the worthiness.
—Jo
I have Vicky Angel by my bed every night, on top of a stack of various books. I've read it about five times and still can never get tired of how fierce, daring, and cold-hearted Vicky Waters is, and how weak, puny, and troubled Jade Marshall is. I don't know the feeling of your best friend using you like a doll, making you do what she desires but I know it's difficult and heartbreaking. Jade's life is falling apart; Fatboy Sam who is misunderstood to be keen on Vicky when he's just trying to get and close and help Jade, her father and mother hanging onto their relationship with all their might just for their daughter, and Vicky being the most selfish, vain, controlling devil to her own best friend. How can Jade bear Vicky's snide comments on her choice of "pudding" friends and her cadaverous figure? Jade is too attached to Vicky to let go of the past, forget the tragic car accident, and confront the future where Vicky can't haunt her. She should stop wasting away, desperately calling out for Vicky, and not get on with her life. Overall, fantastic writing, descriptive feelings, and the wonderful, twisted plot. It's a huge, heart-warming story in 171 pages.
—Yamin Eaindray
