To ban all things Jacqueline Wilson in my house

[Normalisavariantofcrazy]

Off the back of the shit that is Tracey Beaker?

I've yet to hear positive things said about her books by any parent.

I'm happy to be convinced otherwise (although the kids are non plussed about her books)

I think JW is marvellous - so bloody switched on with issues that REALLY affect children. I tried my dd on St Clares and the Secret 7 - stuff I loved as a child and she was having none of it. And when I looked it is stuffy and dated.

Tracey Beaker - the books and the tv programme bring up so much stuff that we discuss. I find that great as sometimes it is hard a parent to know when it is appropriate to discuss certain things and this way it just comes up naturally.

I would never be snobbish about what dd likes to read - reading for pleasure is the way forward imho. Whatever it is.

Other than keeping things vaguely age appropriate I think the idea of banning books is slightly creepy and doesn't say much about your view of your children.

Or to paraphrase Ian Banks "you want them to make up their own minds, but only out of the bits you provide."

Personally, I supply lots of bits (and books) to my dc but accept that they will absorb bits of other people's world views also.

I still don't just read the stuff (classical literature) my dad tried to limit me to. And yet still I function in society (even if I don't automatically suspect people of other skin colours, or sexual orientations).

Actually, I wouldn't encourage the vampire shit - but otherwise, as someone who read all sorts of stuff at an inappropriate age, I would not get precious about it. Reading should be fun, educational, challenging, enjoyable. Its not for me to tell my child what they enjoy.

I don't have any opinion on JW (never read any of them myself) but personally I was very meh about Michael Morpurgo, on the grounds that (a) he kills off his animals gratuitously in books for small children resulting in too many tears in this household (in fact I remember even in yr 6 dd saying she had to spend break cheering up one of the boys who was sobbing his heart out after another M bloody Morpurgo gorefest).

(b) they're all a bit self-conciously middle-brow literary

Fortunately these days dd is older and other than providing suggestions from time to time none of it is my problem as she appears to have mastered the art of avoiding books that are going to upset her

The books are trashy, but very readable.
They were banned at my school which made sure we read every one as they came out, they were past around illicitly like dirty magazines!

Only 2 I would avoid would be "Love Lessons" (teacher reciprocates a pupil's crush) and "Falling Apart" which is out of print I think -its one of the early ones where the main character overdoses.

My DC are still a bit young for the bulk of the JW books but we do have some of the early readers. Even in those there are non-traditional families represented in a very simple way, e.g. in the Dinosaur's packed lunch the lead character lives just with her Dad, she doesn't have a mum or brothers or sisters. I think they are useful to help kids process ideas they find difficult.

Hmmm, do any of them cover the fact that not everyone is a Christian at this time of year, I've just had DD1 in tears because I don't believe in Jesus and she's had weeks of school (not a faith school) telling her that Jesus's birthday is very important.

Oh lego your poor dd! Hope you rip the school to shreds tomorrow!

My kids are in a faith school and my children don't appear to have this thrust down their throats at every oppurtunity. Even their Christmas play isn't religious. They do have a carol service, in a church, with a vicar.

I don't ban anything.

My DDs have read pretty much everything JW has every written - not all of it is great, but much of it is very good. My DDs come from a household of two solidly married affluent well educated happy parents. However, many of their friends have divorced parents, difficult lives etc. and my older DD is dealing with the fact that a classmate is not likely to ever live to adulthood. Reading JW has helped us have those difficult conversations.

So OP, YABU.

YABU

Have always tried to let DD (now 13) read anything - and just to keep one eye on whats she reading.

When younger read some JW (admittedly not her favourite) and what felt like hundreds of (whispers) Rainbow Fairies - wafer thin plots but know what I didn't care as she was showing an interest in reading and she moved on to bigger and better things (sometimes at least)!

She's read Happy Potter, Lemony Snicket, His Dark Materials, Twilight, Hunger Games etc and is still an avid reader now. She has a Kindle and largely I let her get on with it - just asking what she's reading now but I feel that as she grows up I have to trust her to make her own choices - I'm chuffed she's still reading when lots of her peers don't seem too and I dont want to do anything to discourage. Having said that, I had 3 teenage girls in the back of the car on Saturday on the way back from The Hunger Games Catching Fire at the cinema having a very heated debate about how it differed from the book!

I also remember reading stuff I though perhaps I shouldn't when I was her age (sex bits in James Bond I think) and I'm not immune to reading trashy stuff now. But it's all reading.

There is good artical in yesterdays w.s.t, about the benefits of letting children choose their own reading.

Of course, you,d try to steer them to age apropriate stuff, but I,m that people censor books.

Even if it is crap, how are they supposed to make the discernment if they can,t try it?

I did reject one book of jw about a child keeping a dead,
mummified cat in the wardrobe, it was really horrible!

I was reading Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins at 12 plus Cosmo and women's own. I read quality now except on holiday

Dd has read several and enjoyed them all. I've read some too and thought they were good and engrossing. If you read them back to back, I think it would be depressing, but in a balanced reading diet, they are well worth reading. Tracey Beaker, Hetty Feather, Little Darlings and Cookie enabled dd and I to talk about some difficult issues, but within a safe framework. Dd can never understand why I find them so sad: 'No Mummy, Tracey Beaker is funny and her mum will come back,' which shows, I think, that she has not suffered through reading them.

Speaking of balanced reading diets, neither dc are getting one of them ATM. Dd is on her fourth, obsessive read of the Harry Potter books and ds has just discovered Beast Quest. Oh well.

I don't get the literary snobbery about JW and JKR at all. They are a bloody good read. Can any of those saying they are rubbish give me any decent reasons for that statement?

I got a very dyslexic young lad to love reading through helping him read Harry Potter because he was sick of reading the same reading scheme books over and over. By the end of the year he could do it all himself and was a very happy lad but he needed something worthwhile to motivate him.

JW books for age 8-9 years are ok, but when DDs were beyond that age I wasn't happy with the books for young teens. I didn't like the subject matter and I think DCs can live just fine without being aware of certain issues at a young age. They've enough to think about. Although in a society that's bent on pelting children headlong into adulthood before their time, I'm not surprised JW is hailed as a gifted writer in some quarters.She's ok. Not brilliant. & my DDs preferred other authors after a time anyway. I'm glad.

Popular when I was about 12+ was Easy Connections by Liz Berry. If you think Twilight is reprehensible, EC is about a 16 year old girl who gets raped by a rock star and forced to marry him.

It brings up rape, emotional abuse, pregnancy, suicide, drugs, etc. but is presented as a romance. The 'fated' couple are seen as soul mates.

As a young girl, I love love loved Mallory Towers. I last read it about 10 years ago and thought it had held up very well. It presents the girls as characters in their own right, with their own faults and pluses. I've got to say, it's written so completely differently (and better) to other Blyton stuff like FF and SS I got a little suspicious.

I'd highly recommend His Dark Materials for older children - say 12+. What an epic story. It's magical without being patronising.

YABU JW is a brilliant writer and imo one of the best children's author out their atm. Much better than the fairy or twilight books and she writes about subjects that affect people in real life and gives others an understanding. Besides she was my whole childhood.

She is the anti-dote to Enid Blyton! Completely the reverse of all that "lashings of ginger beer and biscuits" idealism.

Having said that I loved EB, nothing like a good bit of predictable, formulaic papp when you're 10 years old.

JW's mission is to give children the flip-side if they come from stable settled backgrounds -and characters to identify with and feel like "I'm not alone" if they have problems to face at a young age.

A wonderful writer with a social conscience!

And anyone who wears that many rings on each hand just rocks as far as I'm concerned!

I read a couple of JW books when I was a girl, but mostly I got fed up with them. from the age of 8 or 9 or so I hated reading about the real world; I much prefer to read fantasy. I can remember reading a book where a character's parents separated and they wanted them to get back together, and wishing my parents would as well. The fact that it happened in neither book nor real life was the final straw for me. When I read, it is usually to escape real life, to go somewhere else and, for a while at least, not have to worry about my RL problems.

That said, I don't think they are bad books at all - just not for everyone, the same as no genre is for everyone. (Although I second a poster upthread recommending a search for Mark Reads, because - IMO, again - he is amazing. And Tamora Pierce's books are too.)

I think YABU to ban an author's entire works, because I don't believe in banning books at all. I mean, okay, keep them out of reach if they are age-inappropriate. My 5yo DS is not allowed to read all the books on my shelves yet, because the content is too mature for him. But when he is old enough that he can cope with it (he's slightly oversensitive so I am pretty sure I will have to 'police' him a bit longer than other children might need it) he will be allowed to read whatever he likes. I will step in and tell him I don't think a book has a good message if he chooses to read something legitimately harmful (As Twilight et al can be IMO, for the undercurrent of stalkerish behaviour etc.), but I think the finest way to ensure a child reads something is to ban it, so what's the point, aside from anything else?

I had a friend at school who wasn't allowed to read Harry Potter as her family were very religious. So she borrowed them off of myself and another friend, and stowed them under her bed, only reading them at night. The idea of banning books always seemed a bit pointless to me after that.

Just off on a tangent - I cannot stand it when people use the phrase, "in my house". So superior. I think JW is brilliant, especially The lottie project and Clean Break.

I banned Tracey Beaker the tv programme until I felt the dcs were old enough to watch it. Dd loves reading JW, her choice, it's age appropriate and as long as she's enjoying it I have no issues.
We have been through all the phases rainbow fairies etc...I'm happy for her to read whatever takes her fancy, after having a period where she was completely put off reading....I allow her to take the lead.

Bloody hate Michael morporgo though, miserable books, read Kasper to the dcs and balled my eyes out....why would you want to read something that made your eyes leak? I don't do weepy movies either! But the dcs like and read Morporgo, I don't allow my opinion to cloud their judgement - they need to learn to think for themselves.

Ban no book. Tis a methodology of fascism.

My daughter has an advanced reading level for her age and I have to police the content of books because sometimes the subject matter is a bit old for her. On one occasion she couldn't comprehend a storyline and it made her upset and not sleep, so I have to be careful.

Rainbow Magic got her into chapter books but she quickly cottoned on how repetitive they were.

The librarian at my local library suggested the Glitterwings Academy books and she really enjoys those...about a fairy academy and not repetitive at all.

I am trying to delay her interest in JW books as I don't think she's mature enough yet (7).

Banning books is a sure way to make them desirable. Since your children are not bothered in the first place why make them desirable?
It always gives me a wry smile that 'mother bans book' means they meekly accept it. I was a very obedient child but I would have got hold of a copy and read it in secret.

I really like JW's books especially Hetty Feather. Many of them are quite dark at times but so is life. There is a lot of humour in them and she gets inside the child protagonist very successfully. I enjoyed her autobiography which is accessible for children and a useful introduction to the genre.
JW doesn't write great literature but her books are thought provoking and usually 'good reads'. Much of my own reading is quite light, I don't only read for instruction or edification. I want children to love reading as I did and both Wilson and Rowling facilitate that love.