Ritorna Rebecca Bloomwood, la divertente protagonista della serie I love shopping, le cui avventure tra shopping selvaggio e conti in rosso hanno divertito migliaia di lettori. Allora perché non unire il piacere della lettura al “dovere” di imparare l’inglese?

Mini Shopaholic (I love mini shopping in italiano) è l’ultimo capitolo della saga della più famosa spendacciona d’America. I romanzi di Sophie Kinsella perfetti per chi desidera imparare l’inglese leggendo testi originali, lo stile della scrittrice è semplice ma allegro e mai noioso.
Leggere libri in inglese è uno degli esercizi migliori per migliorare lingua e lessico, però è fondamentale scegliere testi interessanti ed in linea con i nostri interessi, così la lettura diventerà un piacevole esercizio.

Nell’ultimo romanzo, Shopaholic & Baby, (I love shopping per il baby in italiano) abbiamo lasciato Rebecca sommersa di pacchi e pacchettini per il suo bambino in arrivo. Sembrava che la saga dell’eroina dalle mani bucate fosse finita, Rebecca era ormai felicemente sposata e stava per diventare mamma. Il tempo dello shopping compulsivo è dunque finito? Nient’affatto, perché la piccola Minnie è una bambina dalle idee ben chiare: vuole cose, tante cose!

A soli due anni la figlia di Rebecca entra nei negozi urlando “miiiioooo!!!” e per arginare la mini furia si dovrà ricorrere ad una tata professionista. Come se non bastasse Rebecca ed il marito vivono ancora a case dei suoi genitori e devono destreggiarsi tra i capricci della figlia, l’ingerenza dei suoceri e i problemi economici. Sullo sfondo c’è un’altra delle catastrofiche imprese di Rebecca, organizzare una grandiosa festa a sorpresa per il marito senza prosciugare il conto in banca.

Buona lettura!

ONE

OK. Don’t panic. I’m in charge. I, Rebecca Brandon (née Bloomwood), am the adult. Not my two-year-old daughter.

Only I’m not sure she realizes this.

‘Minnie, darling, give me the pony.’ I try to sound calm and assured, like Nanny Sue off the telly.

‘Poneeee.’ Minnie grips the toy pony more tightly.

‘No pony.’

‘Mine!’ she cries hysterically. ‘Miiiine poneee!’

Aargh. I’m holding about a million shopping bags, my face is sweating, and I could really do without this.

It was all going so well. I’ve been round the whole shopping mall and bought all the last little things on my Christmas list. Minnie and I were heading towards Santa’s Grotto, and I only stopped for a moment to look at a dolls’ house. Whereupon Minnie grabbed a toy pony off the display and refused to put it back. And now I’m in the middle of Pony-gate.

A mother in J Brand skinny jeans with an impeccably dressed daughter walks past, giving me the Mummy Once-over, and I flinch. Since I had Minnie, I’ve learned that the Mummy Once-over is even more savage than the Manhattan Once-over. In the Mummy Once-over, they don’t just assess and price your clothes to the nearest penny in one sweeping glance. Oh no. They also take in your child’s clothes, pram brand, nappy bag, snack choice and whether your child is ­ smiling, snotty or screaming.

Which I know is a lot to take in, in a one-second glance, but believe me, mothers are multi-taskers.

Minnie definitely scores top marks for her outfit. (Dress: one-off Danny Kovitz; coat: Rachel Riley; shoes: Baby Dior.) And I’ve got her safely strapped into her toddler reins (Bill Amberg leather, really cool, they were in Vogue). But instead of smiling angelically like the little girl in the photoshoot, she’s straining against them like a bull waiting to dash into the ring. Her eyebrows are knitted in fury, her cheeks are bright pink and she’s drawing breath to shriek again.

‘Minnie.’ I let go of the reins and put my arms round her so that she feels safe and secure, just like Nanny Sue recommends in her book, Taming Your Tricky Toddler. I bought it the other day, to have a flick through. Just out of idle interest. I mean, it’s not that I’m having problems with Minnie or anything. It’s not that she’s difficult. Or ‘out of control and wilful’, like that ­ stupid teacher at the toddler music group said. (What does she know? She can’t even play the triangle properly.)

The thing about Minnie is, she’s . . . spirited. She has firm opinions about things. Like jeans (she won’t wear them), or carrots (she won’t eat them). And right now her firm opinion is that she should have a toy pony.

Mini Shopaholic (I love mini shopping) sarà un lettura divertene e piacevole.