Whytock, Cherry

Personal

Married; children: two daughters. Education: Studied art and textile design. Hobbies and other interests: Painting, gardening, dog walking.

Addresses

Home—Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.

Career

Novelist and illustrator.

Writings

"ANGEL" SERIES; YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

Disasters, Diets, and D-Cups, Picadilly Press (London, England), 2003, published as My Cup Runneth Over: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

Haggis Horrors and Heavenly Bodies, Picadilly Press (London, England), 2003, published as My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

Secrets, Suspicions, and Sun-kissed Beaches, Picadilly Press (London, England), 2004, published as My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Loving, Loathing, and Luscious Lunches, Picadilly Press (London, England), 2004.

Deli Dramas and Dreamy Doormen, Picadilly Press (London, England), 2005.

YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

(With Caroline Plaisted) Cringe!: The Top Secret Diary of Amaryllis Flowerdew; or, How a Star Is Born, Macmillan (London, England), 2003.

(With Caroline Plaisted) Do I Look Like I Care?: What Amaryllis Did Next (sequel to Cringe!), Macmillan (London, England), 2003.

Fizzy Pink, Puffin (London, England), 2005.

Fabberoony Fizzy Pink, Puffin (London, England), 2006.

Honeysuckle Lovelace: The Dogwalkers' Club, Piccadilly (London, England), 2006.

Honeysuckle Lovelace: Ghosthunters, Piccadilly (London, England), 2007.

Sidelights

In the "Angel" novels, her first foray into teen fiction, author and illustrator Cherry Whytock created a popular and likeable protagonist who shared one of the most vexing worries facing many girls her age: her weight. Published in the author's native Great Britain as well as in the United States (although under different titles), the series earned Whytock a devoted readership. Continuing her focus on teen life, Whytock has also created several more multi-volume storylines, among them Cringe!: The Top Secret Diary of Amaryllis Flowerdew; or, How a Star Is Born and Do I Look like I Care?: What Amaryllis Did Next. Co-authored with popular teen novelist Caroline Plaisted and featuring Whytock's cartoon art, the two books contain the animated diary entries of Amaryllis Flowerdew and her efforts to live the life of a normal materialistic teen despite her strange name and the fact that she lives under the sway of her counterculture, hippie parents.

In My Cup Runneth Over: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts—published in England as Disasters, Diets, and D-Cups—Whytock introduces a full-figured fourteen year old who loves food but struggles with the inevitable conflict between being herself and living up to society's model-thin severe expectations. It does not help that Angel's friends—as well as her mom, a former model—are all rail thin. Although they insist that they love her just the way she is, as School Library Journal reviewer Linda L. Plevak put it, Angel "knows she needs to make life changes and pokes fun at all that is wrong in her life." She gives an all-cabbage diet a try until the object of her desire invites one her friends, rather than her, to the school dance. An attempt at kickboxing comes next, but that proves equally unsuccessfully. Eventually "help arrives in the form of a new brassiere, which provides the emotional and literal boost she needs to model in a school fashion show," as Jennifer Mattson explained in Booklist. In addition to noting the uplifting message in My Cup Runneth Over, Kliatt reviewer Paula Rohrlick predicted that readers "will enjoy the bubbly sense of humor and the chatter about friends, clothes, and boys" in Whytock's pun-filled text, as well as the bonus of eight recipes salted with Angel's witty comments on cooking and enjoying food.

In My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts (titled Haggis Horrors and Heavenly Bodies for British publication), Angel's problems "stem not from her physique … but from her Scottish father's eccentricity," according to Mattson. All seems well when the Potts family takes a trip north to Scotland to revisit their ancestral roots, but after their return to London, a bit of upheaval occurs. Stirred up with national pride, Angel's dad, nicknamed "Potty," starts a protest against the famed Harrod's department store, which he accuses of stocking an inferior type of haggis. After Potty is arrested, Angel finds herself banned from the store, and thus from access to many of the prized recipe ingredients she can find nowhere else in London. Realizing that she will have to prove her father justified in his charge if she is ever to shop at her beloved Harrod's again, Angel enlists her friends—and even an old foe—in the cause. The teen's life is further complicated by the presence of two appealing boys, one who lives with her family and the other a schoolmate who is starting to show an interest in her. "Angel's obsessions with fatness, fashion, and food are funny and fast," concluded a Kirkus Reviews contributor. As with My Cup Runneth Over, recipes for Angel's favorite foods—which do not include haggis—are sprinkled throughout My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings.

Angel's adventures, as well as her battle with her naturally ample waistline, continue in My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts. Vacationing in Italy with her family and friends, Angel braves the beach but pines for potential boyfriend Sydney, especially when her friends find romance in the Mediterranean sun. The teen is forced back down to earth, however, when her mom begins to act love-struck and the possibility of an extramarital affair casts a cloud on the holiday. In School Library Journal, Tracy Karbel described Angel as "a wonderful, lovable character," and noted that the secondary characters in My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli are "kind to one another and value friendship." Fine cuisine and the adventures of the likeable Angel continue in Loving, Loathing, and Luscious Lunches and Deli Dramas and Dreamy Doormen.

In her "Angel" books, as well as her other novels for teens, Whytock begins each story with a sketch. "I always begin with drawings of the characters as I like to be able to ‘see’ them before I begin to write about them," she once noted. Recalling the experience of writing her first "Angel" novel, the author added: "Initially I found writing terrifying. But the more I wrote the more I loved it! After really careful planning and outlines I write fast and furiously on my laptop. I find writing increasingly addictive—I can see all the characters in my head and miss them dreadfully when a book is finished!"

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2003, Jennifer Mattson, review of My Cup Runneth Over: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, p. 607; January 1, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, p. 847; December 1, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts, p. 47.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2003, Karen Coats, review of My Cup Runneth Over, p. 129.

Children's Book Review, February, 2005, review of My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2003, review of My Cup Runneth Over, p. 1081; September 15, 2004, review of My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings, p. 923; December 1, 2005, review of My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli, p. 1281.

Kliatt, September, 2003, Paula Rohrlick, review of My Cup Runneth Over, p. 14; September, 2004, Paula Rohrlick, review of My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings, p. 17.

Publishers Weekly, September 1, 2003, review of My Cup Runneth Over, p. 90; October 18, 2004, reviews of My Cup Runneth Over and My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings, p. 66.

School Library Journal, September, 2003, Linda L. Plevak, review of My Cup Runneth Over, p. 222; January, 2005, Karen Hoth, review of My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings, p. 138; January, 2006, Tracy Karbel, review of My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli, p. 145.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2006, Walter Hogan, review of My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli, p. 495.