Yoko’s Diary: Cringe and Catastrophe

By Annika Sandelin

Selected for 2018 IBBY Honour list!

In Yoko’s Diary: Cringe and Catastrophe, Yoko finally turns eleven. Yoko’s mother is beyond embarrasing and her dad is the nicest person in the world but can’t even boil a hotdog without them exploding, and leaving Yoko feeling ashamed in front of her friends. 

In her diary Yoko writes about exactly everything. She writes about her best friend Anna who is adopted and is so angry with her parents, that she wants to move back to China. She writes about the other girls in the class that have started using make-up which makes them look much older and of course she writed about Daniel, that she wouldn’t mind kissing. 

Yoko’s Diary: Cringe and Catastrophe is the stand-alone sequel to Yoko’s Diary: The Night Book. The series accompanies Yoko in the burning embarrassment of pre-teen life.

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About the author

Annika Sandelin (b.1972) is an established author and poet, who worked as a librarian before she became a full-time writer. Apart from writing, she also teaches a writing course in how to write children’s and youth literature. Her latest works include Silkmonkey’s Laughter (2019) and Moominvalley’s Alphabet (Mumindalens alfabet, 2021). Her newest book My Flying Grandma was released in spring 2022.In 2014 Sandelin was nominated for the Nordic Council Prize and has since received prestigious awards like the Anni Swan Medal for Silkmonkey’s Laughter in 2021, which is the oldest children’s literature award in Finland. She has also been recognized for her translations as her translation made the IBBY International Honorary List in 2022.