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

When I was 12 I was reading Danielle Steele and Mills and Boon books. No idea why my mum let me. Just be happy she’s reading

Don't be such a snob!

I wouldn't worry my bright as a button daughter loved reading animé books. She didn't turn stupid after reading them.

I read The Thorn Birds and Flowers in the Attic at that age, at least she is reading 🤣

I was obsessed with JW I then became obsessed with VC Andrew's books now they are disturbing 😂

Tbf I was a teenager in the mid 70s - if there were YA books they were American and didn't make it to our local library!

I mean this kindly,but just try to be grateful that she enjoys reading. So many kids her age don't.

Oh bless her, she’s only 12!
Reading should be fun, for escapism.
When I was 12 I was reading JW, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club etc etc. I absolutely loved them. (And I now have an Eng Lit degree, if that makes you feel better!)
There’s plenty of time for more advanced books when she’s older. Please don’t push her into reading things she doesn’t want to, as she may lose her love for reading all together.

You daughter is reading for enjoyment, she is clearly enjoying JW, and I guess will read them all.

Why would she choose to read something historical ?

She could of course move on to Fifty Shades of Grey...

Historical books 😐 she’s 12!
I think you need to lower your expectations a bit.

I adored JW - even queued for hours to get her to sign one of my books (which my mum then accidentally took to the charity shop 😭). I turned out just fine and hope that my daughter grows up to enjoy them too.

I think particularly between around 11 and 14, girls have so much going on in their bodies and lives that they cling to the familiar in what they read. I remember my DD at 13, whose favourite book (read sooo many times) was "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry". When she started GCSE she was in the top set for English and was disheartened by being faced with Thomas Hardy as the novel choice. When she was told the book for the second set was Roll of Thunder, she wanted to drop back to that set. I asked how bored she thought she'd be after two years of studying a book she already knew by heart, and which of the two options she thought she might actually learn something from, and she grumpily agreed to stay where she was. After two years she loved Thomas Hardy and read all his other novels too.

Judy bloom is brilliant

I'm too old to have read JW. At 12 it was Jilly cooper and Jackie Collins, but I probably re-read Malory towers and St Clare's every summer.

Childhood books are like a warm hug. Especially over the summer when she'll need to be recharging.

What kind of stupid snobby nonsense is this question? I loved JW books from primary school up to probably year 9. I also got top grades at school, not that it matters.

I read a few Jean Plaidy books when I was young (several of them started with the protagonist as a small girl). The main result appears to have been a deep-seated feeling that as a Protestant I should be wary of Catholics 😮(still at least it meant I had a vague idea of what people were talking about over Northern Ireland). I think a fair bit went over my head - eg when she said Lucy was dying of a condition that often affected those who had lived her sort of life I assumed that meant she was exhausted from all the travelling! Anyway, Madame Serpent about Catherine de Medici was quite dark right from the start and I don't think it traumatised me.

My parents used to have a bookshop, where I worked sometimes, and we heard this so often.

It is frustrating but it's just not worth worrying about. As PPs say, it's good that she has the reading habit, don't do anything to stop that.

From the ages of 8-12 I read nothing but pony books, eventually this led me to Flambards and from there it was pretty much straight on to Jane Austen! If your DD loves reading that much she'l be fine.

What’s wrong with Jacqueline Wilson? I read Forever Amber at 12. Totally inappropriate I realise now.

Also imagine if every time you read something light hearted someone else suggested you should be reading something better like Tolstoy?

I've just remembered that when I was a pre-teen (many years ago) my best friend's teenage sister had a collection of Pan horror story books, We used to pinch them and utterly terrify ourselves reading them. Even the covers used to scare me witless.

I think they are educational. Part of social development is understanding different people's lives and situations. Her age is a key age where you really begin to grasp this.

It's great that she's finding pleasure in reading - be grateful for that! I'm sure the JW phase will pass.

I had to keep my mouth shut when my children were little, because I find most children's literature really irritating. But I'm not the target audience (I had to keep reminding myself). It's the formulaic-ness, the goody-goodiness, the way children's authors jump on the bandwagon of fashionable issues so predictably etc, etc. But they're children's author, I grumpily accept. I think it's really important NOT to express your adult criticism of your daughter's choices - she'll move on, and it would very much undermine her pleasure if you were negative about JW.

Confession: I didn't enjoy children's books as a child. I became a reader at 14 when I discovered adult literature. But as an adult there are still some amazing classic children's authors that I love and respect - but they'd be considered really unfashionable now. But wow, were they well-written with depth and perception.

She is going to the library, she is borrowing and reading physical books, I think that is wonderful.

Yes (in my opinion) you are being unreasonable.

Jaqueline Wilson books seem to be what the kids like.

I have a 12 year old (year 9) and they are reading far more advanced literacy than JW.

What do you find inappropriate about the books apart from the fact they seem a bit childlike?

I would also encourage the love of reading regardless of if it is JW or any other reading.

I loved - Judy Blume, Point Horror, Roald Dahl as a child. I also still love reading as an adult.