Name: Granny the Pag
ISBN: 9780395776049

Nina Bawden

Originally abandoned by her actor parents who later attempt to gain custody, Cat wages a spirited campaign to decide her own fate and remain with her grandmother.

Granny the Pag

Lynn Braden

The main character in Granny the Pag is Catriona Brooke. Cat is left with her grandmother when her actor parents decide to tour the country, going from one theater to another. In the beginning, Cat hates the idea, and in her anger, she writes that her grandmother is a pig. At the time however, Cat is too young to know how to spell and writes "Pag" instead of pig. The name sticks and becomes a term of endearment. As Cat is about to turn 13, her parents settle in London, and they decide that they want Cat back. She doesn't want to live with them anymore, which creates the main conflict in the story.
I loved the character of the Pag. She rides a Harley and smokes whenever she wants to. Unfortunately, the Pag isn't the main character. We get bogged down in the day to day problems of Cat and hardly get to know the other characters in the book. In addition, the story is set in London, and some of the references are strictly British making them hard to understand. Also, there isn't a whole lot of action in the book, and the drama is very understated. It is a fairly slow and predictable story.