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 like Cliffhanger and Buried Alive.

Not quite sure what adult books should be allowed in the house if we apply the same sort of criteria. (No dysfunctional families, no social problems, no unwise behaviour, no unhappiness.) To be honest am not really sure what children's books make the grade either.

NB. Nick Sharratt's illustrations are brilliant in Jacqueline Wilson.

An interesting question: those of you who feel that imposing age restrictions on any book is unacceptable, do you let your dc watch/play any age film or computer game?

I have no issues with JW as said above, but I would be just as happy to tell dd that she was too young for a particular book as to tell her she had to wait to watch a particular film.

So far I can only think of a couple of instances: The Word for World is Forest - good book, and extremely moral but IMO the violence/rape is inappropriate for an 11 y/o, and I also suggested dd wait a while to read the Hunger Games (which she did then read in yr 6).

I think the experience of a book is rather different than the experience of a film or game, where you are presented with visual images that you may find very disturbing.

I think with text if there is something you don't understand, as a child you tend to skim over it - and/or interpret it in a childish way - without your sense of the universe being profoundly shaken.

I did keep back 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' from my daughter for a couple of years. (A family friend had given it to me, for her.) But that was particularly because I have relatives who died in the Holocaust. I felt it would be more timely to have the discussion about what really happened, when my daughter had reached double figures.

I also think that a book is very different from a film or game. A book is very personal, it is your own imagination and you may get from it something entirely different from what the author intended. I agree that, with their limited experience, they would interpret it in a childish way and if it doesn't interest them they would stop reading or skim over. A film or game is someone else's imagination and interpretation and both can be very unsuitable. They are producing images that the child isn't ready for and their own imagination wouldn't have taken them there.

I loved Jacqueline Wilson books as a child because they addressed real issues that I could relate to such as divorce, depression, bullying and sibling rivalry rather than idealising everything. Even if your kids do not have to deal with these issues themselves, it is helpful to them to understand that some children do, so they can empathise as well as appreciating what they have. If the books are age appropriate for your kids then I would allow them to make their own decisions. Also banning something normally makes it the forbidden fruit and therefore more appealing!

My mother banning a book would have made it far more exciting.
In this digital age perhaps children don't do what we did at school and pass around books that our mothers and teachers wouldn't have wanted us reading! I was also a great reader of books under the bedclothes with a torch! My mother also had no idea how many problem pages I read in women's magazines.
The great thing about being a fluent reader is that you can read anything!
I would think that promoting books that you do want them to read is better than being negative.

I assume that those who seek to ban children books dealing with commonplace social issues also prevent children from glimpsing tabloid newspaper headlines, watching or listening to the TV news and only permit them to socialise with friends whose families have been subjected to absolutely rigorous vetting?

I was a meek child but 'allowed a couple' would have been an immediate challenge to me to get hold of more! I had the full choice of the library. At 8yrs I would deem anything in the children's library suitable and luckily I had a mother who go her own books in the adult section and didn't interfere. I can remember her telling me I would love 'Anne of Green Gables' which I hated. Even as adults we have very different tastes in books. Reading is so lovely, because it is so personal.

got not go

There's a whole range of JW books - some are targeted at younger readers and some at the early teenage market. So I can't really make sense of the idea that they're all 'too old' for, say, a child who is 8.

God forbid that any 8 year old should read - or be read - fairytales then!

If they haven't brought them home it isn't a problem, it is only a problem if they love them and you want to ban them. I hated 'Thomas the Tank Engine' with a passion but we lived and breathed them for a while, it was a phase like anything else.

It's a serious point. Fairytales are full of death, extreme cruelty and dysfunctional families. Cinderellla? Snow White? Hansel and Gretel?

'Frau I don't think the subject matter, of any of them is suitable for 8 year olds.'

Er, LaQ, which ones have you actually read?

JW has written a huge number of books for ages from early readers up to YA. She covers a range of themes. I struggle to see how anyone would object to, say, 'Four Children And It', unless they have some kind of moral objection to kids reading about divorced parents.

LaQueen: Some children, probably more than either of us realise, suffer from depression, anorexia, or abuse - the subjects you're saying are unsuitable for them. You wouldn't necessarily know if your children did. Anorexics in particular are very good at hiding what's happening. My parents didn't have a clue until it was far, far too late. Reading about 'difficult' issues helps children understand the world as it really is - it's not all fluffy bunnies and stardust.

YABU every single one of her books has had me in floods of tears.

If you come across to your DD's the way you come across in your posts I am not surprised your DD's don't bring any more JW books home. It doesn't necessarily mean they don't want to though.

YABU. I grew up in a very abusive household and as a vulnerable child it was great to read something that was similar to my life experience and not 'happy families'