12 year old obsessed with Jacqueline Wilson books.. Aibu to think there is better out there?

These are good storylines - have read the B&B one. I did not like it as I grew up living in one-room accommodation and grotty flats, very similar life to some of those JW depicts - I am not nostalgic for that way of life! However, they are well-written and the stories depict life for many children and open the eyes of children who have no experience of such lives.
Anyway, reading is for fun, not to 'teach' something. Any book that sets out to instruct its readers rather than tell a good story (where lessons are learned by the way) is going to be awful, anyway.

If she likes JW she will find Lemony Snicket a bit twee, I suspect.

What's wrong with Judy Blume? DD read her and enjoyed them.

Youngest DD must be very sheltered! I have read some JW's and afaik they were not inappropriate - not very middle-class, though. Don't like her historical ones, which can be a bit anachronistic.

Be happy she's reading. I am not sure what in a Jacqueline Wilson novel might be mildly inappropriate for a 12-year-old but she writes about non-standard family set-ups etc. which widens some DC horizons. Books are very often funny and also well-written.
Let DD read what she likes out of the juvenile section. She will move on to other things at her own pace. She will not read books you suggest to her as 'better', however. FWIW my DD - many, many years ago - enjoyed Cynthia Voight (homeless kids travelling across the US etc. e.g. Dicey's Song) and my son read (and still has one volume) the Dalemark quartet by Diana Wynne-Jones. Both enjoyed Wynne-Jones (good writer - wide-range of fantasy novels including alternative worlds) as well as sci-fi. DD liked E Nesbit (and requested copies as an adult). I gave books for Christmas and birthdays (based on known preferences), but their library choices were entirely their own; when visiting bookshops I (and relatives) bought DC choices. Both DC still read now as adults and encourage DGC to read.
You could go to the library with her and choose books YOU would like to read from the juvenile section, of course. And YOU read them - do not read them to her, but leave them around. If she is intrigued she will have a look. Avoid anything didactic btw, children hate to be preached at. Fantasy is usually fun.

My daughter (11) obsesses over one series of books at a time and will read them all over and over again. It's so hard to get her to move onto anything new. It used to be all very girlie series (culminating in the awful Dork Diaries) then thankfully Harry Potter.

I spoke to her teacher about how we might get her into something different and he lobbed the first Percy Jackson book her way. I thought there's no WAY she'll read that (not full of girlie angst), but we asked her to start it at bedtime that night, expecting it to get hidden away somewhere. Turns out she absolutely LOVES Percy Jackson and will also take a copy around with her in case of a spare couple of minutes. It might be a good one to try OP!

I only need to read the thread title to know YABU.

JW is dark. My girls loved her. It passes though once they read them all. Its only when you read other books you learn about other styles.

Dont forget though their preferences arent your own so you might not always 'get them'. I rarely understand my eldest lol

If you're looking for recommendations she might like:

Hillary McKay (Saffy's Angel and others)
Katherine Rundell (Rooftoppers, The Explorer)
Kate Saunders (The Land of Neverending)
Eve Ainsworth (Lost, Magpie)
Elle McNicoll
Sophie Green (Potkin and Stubbs)
Annabelle Sami (Agent Zaiba Investigates)
Jessica Townsend (Neverwhere series)

I grew up ready JW. She was my favourite author. I don’t remember being traumatised by the story lines - except for Vicky Angel, that haunted me.

However I seem to have a stronger reaction from reading JW as an adult - I’m almost shocked at how real she is - now that my daughter has started reading her books. When we are older we put things into perspective and forget that children can be exposed to so much worse.

It also makes a good debate if you want to encourage your child to have different life views.

Don’t knock it. Anything they read at that age is good. She’ll grow out of JW eventually and move on to higher things. Maybe get her interested in the classics by watching TV adaptations with her.

Anne Fine is also a very good writer about different people's situations, but in don't know if she's a bit out of fashion these days? I remember studying The Tulip Touch in English in Year 7 or 8.

Oh.. just to add.. STEM grad, finance career, well balanced, I think I turned out ok.

not The poster but that could have easily been me… situations like people suffering bulimia, bereavement, body dismorphia… sure as a teenager there were times I didn’t love my body, or had a difficult relationship with food, but reading a little JW helped me realise the beginnings of a serious problem and nip it in the bud, whilst also preparing me for empathising with other people’s issues.

I wish that was my worst problem with a tween! She’s reading, embrace it. Bests all the shite on the internet!

Reading books is proven to help develop empathy -- which is a factor in helping develop children's intelligence. Lots of research on this if you google it. So no I wouldn't mind at all.

I have. They are.

do you think 12 year olds don't know people who are, or aren't themsleves affected by the situations in the books?

Another one hear who read the flower in the attic books when I was 12.. This thread has made me want to reread to see if they are as bad as I remember.

At least your daughter likes reading, I wish my teens did.

They're bloody miserable books, more suitable for older readers.

There's a lifetime of misery ahead, no point in practising for it while you're still a child.

I have fat fingers... I was a big Wilbur Smith fan... she's reading.... it's a good thing

It's really quite age appropriate...
St her she I was a bug Wilbur Smith fab... totally not appbut my patents didn't know better

@Breakdancingdo you read a lot yourself? My parents were both huge influences on my reading choices when I was your DD's age, because they read constantly and would pass along anything they thought I'd like.

PPs have mentioned Judy Blume and now that I think about it, my mother disapproved of JB so I read her books on the sly. 😅

Crikey, when I was that age I was working my way through my sister's extensive Jackie Collins collection! I also read not only the Flowers In The Attic saga, but most of Virginia Andrews' other books, (themes include sex, incest, violence, miscarriage, abusive parents and more sex). I really would read absolutely anything, no matter how bad. Even now I have a weakness for (good) chick lit, (Marian Keyes is my go to for comfort reading).

My daughter loved JW and still does, she’s now 24! Btw, she studied English Literature as her degree and has wide ranging tastes…your daughter should be allowed to read JW to her hearts content..