Jacqueline Wilson

i love them! i still have every one of her books. i’m thirty now and my mum still buys me every new book that comes out! i bought the dvd of the girls in love tv series a few years ago and binged them over lockdown, followed by re-reading the books.

I loved them when I was young! Especially double act and illustrated mum.

I never read any of hers for some reason
Perhaps I should read them before I read any to my child. Going by some of the comments they might not be suitable

What age are the suitable for?
(It would be me reading them to her, I'm just thinking about how enjoyable for her and age appropriateness)

Bed and Breakfast Star was my favourite. I think the books are good, some topics are quite adult but children live in a world of adult themes, not unicorns. If they can learn about the world by reading a story and bring safe in their house, it's a whole lot better than learning when it's too late

DD has been loving them.

We've recently read the Hetty Feather books set in the Victorian era, and Wave Me Goodbye about an evacuee. They were brilliant. Some of JW's books written in the 90s now feel a bit dated to me in terms of language, but the historical ones avoid that I think.

The Girls book about anorexia actively triggered some disordered eating for me, it was basically a how-to guide. Can't remember which specific ones did this for me but reading some other JWs as a preteen/young teen also helped me to realise to some extent that my household situation was abusive.

I loved JW as a pre-teen !

Roostas if you haven't read any since 2004 you've got about 30 books to catch up with

I might reread some JW books this year. I haven't read one since 2004. I did enjoy most of them but I couldn't stand Tracy Beaker. What an annoying little sod she was.

Ohh I loved her as a kid. The suitcase kid always got me! I can't wait for my DD to get to the JW reading age

I loved them. My favourite was Lola Rose, it really gave me some comfort and was the reason I realised my home life wasn't "normal". I still have my copy even though it was ripped and certain parts circled when someone realised what it was about

I loved them. My DD has just started reading them and I've reread a couple.

I love them. Vicky Angel still makes me weep, and I identify far too much with the mum in The Illustrated Mum.

I think her characters are very realistic. But they aren't happy middle class characters which is why a lot of MNers don't like the books.

I loved them. Double act was my fave.

I suppose the reason I became a fan (broadly) is that they show kids having lots of resilience dealing with very tangible relatable problems -- including some things which are the worst of children's fears (eg., losing a parent or sibling). JW tells stories about kids who deal with these things & still go on in life to have other successes; so those problems don't have to be end of the world.

I wouldn't say they were well-written or super realistic, but they are relatable & engaging, and gave DD a way to make peace with her worst fears.

I have mixed feelings about JW books.

My dd loved them and they are well written. I think they're quite similar in a lot of ways to the growing up stories by Jean Ur, Judy Bloom etc that I read.

However there have been a couple of her books that I removed from dd-I don't think I've removed more than one other book from her so I'm not particularly fussy. The first was an early book of hers which portrays a romance between a teacher and pupil, very much from the romantic side. I suspect she cringes when she sees it! I hope she does anyway.
The other, one of her Girls in Love series, to me, for my dd, crossed the thin line between educating and glorifying anorexia. I may be slightly sensitive there having had a friend who died due to anorexia though.

Some of the books are great. I think Double Act is a really interesting character study, and The Lottie Project is another great book.

What don't I like? Well, I often find the main character a gobby little brat. Gobby little brat also has a tendency to "get together" (hint of romance in the future maybe) with the bully/unpopular (and often overweight) boy.
But that does mean I don't really care what happens to the main character, which is a bit of a failing in a book. I want to be rooting for them, willing them to win through.

So, yes, I think she does write good stories, but I don't necessarily enjoy reading them.
I don't know how true to life they are and whether a child in those situations would feel understood or not. The child I knew who was in that type of situation was far keener on Enid Blyton because they portrayed a happy life they could dream about, but that's only one child.

They remind me a little of Catherine Cookson books where the adults have issues, the children have issues, they're not totally resolved by the end but may be patched over with a dodgy romance.

I love Jacqueline Wilson books. I bought her new release on Saturday (Baby Love) and read the whole thing on Sunday. It was such an emotional read. This book is for teens and different to some of her more recent novels.
You will probably get a load of people on here saying her books and characters are dreadful because for some reason Mumsnet doesn't like her books.
I don't know why. Most are stand alone stories - a good solid read and no need to have to buy a whole load more because it's part of a series. My favourites in recent years have been Katy (and modern re telling of What Katy Did), The Butterfly Club and the new Baby Love. Love Frankie - another recent one for older readers was good too.
Jacqueline Wilson Rules

I read most of her books up until to the mid-late 2000s when I was growing up. I really loved them. My dd is only 5 but I’ve kept my old JW books for when she’s older. She captures situations brilliantly and makes the characters believable. I can’t remember which book it was but there was one about a chat room (I think it came out when these things were quite new) and she really captured how it affects girls