Jacqueline Wilson - thoughts?

[whattimeisitrightnow]

Posting in AIBU for traffic and also because there's another thread currently running here that's sort of about her works.
I grew up reading JW obsessively, really loved her work. If I'm honest, I'd probably still enjoy reading some of her books as an adult! However, now that I'm older I'm easily able to identify problems with a lot of them: some of it was my own fault, as I read the ones for teens/mature readers when I was too little for them.

That being said (talked about this on the other thread) there's one book, Love Lessons, based on a student-teacher relationship where said relationship is presented in an almost positive light, in a very romantic way. The female student is pretty much blamed entirely for what happens and is kicked out of the school while the teacher keeps his job. The abuse of power isn't explored at all. Generally, I think JW books really seek to give a voice to children, especially those in extremely difficult situations who might feel particularly powerless, and that's commendable. LL seems to be an exception.

What do people think of JW books? Did you enjoy reading them? Do you think they're too 'dark' for children? Did you even find them helpful at times? (I remember the ones with abusive parents really resonating with me, even before I was old enough to articulate why.) And do you let your own kids read them?

Oh dear, I remember JW books. They are basically the equivalent of misery lit/ sensational real-life magazine stories, but directed at 9 year olds. Quite distasteful really. Why did every book seem to have someone with a serious mental illness? And why were there no stable marriages? Trash, but very enjoyable trash.
I remember Wilson saying that she'd grown up reading Enid Blyton books and the like, where families never argued and homes (and parents) were perfect. This didn't square with her own experiences: if you've read her autobiographical books, she talks about her parents' tense marriage. I think her works were an attempt to hit back at the idea of 'perfection' in children's lives, so as to create things that kids could relate to, books which she might have found useful in her own childhood. Hence, no stable marriages, etc. I agree that if you read every single one, back-to-back, it would be a bit much.

@bookmum08
I completely agree and thought the same! Since when did most of them have social workers too? I can only think of a handful that did!

I felt that a lot of them showed strong bonds between siblings, which is always nice. And I can't think of a single book of hers that didn't have some aspect of bullying/teasing, even if only a little bit, which I thought was a good way of showing children that everyone has to deal with hurtful comments and actions in their lives, but will get through it.

The only social worker ones I can think of are Lily Alone and Tracy Beaker, which makes sense as both of those characters were in the care system. I admit that I know next to nothing about foster care, though, so I don't know how common it is for kids to be assigned a social worker... I thought if you were in foster care, you had to have one? Happy to be corrected - again, totally ignorant on the subject.

I loved JW growing up and can remember how excited I was when the librarian would let me know that the one of been waiting on was available or the new one was just in. I think I read them between P5-6 as it was before my goosebumps obsession which was definitely in P7.

The first one I read was the illustrated mum and I remembered being surprised that they bought a cake from Marks and Spencers and thinking the book was so modern before JW I was into the Famous Five and I don't think they ever visited the local supermarket.

I was too old to have read them as a child, but as a young teacher they were the first books I came across that presented different types of families and a side of life that wasn’t Blytonesque and perfect. I loved them for this, particularly the Illustrated Mum and the Bed and Breakfast Kid, such a relief to read about children who’d lived through what I’d lived through and some of my students were still living through.

There‘s a bit near the beginning of Lola Rose when the little girl and her Mum are out for meal with the controlling, abusive Dad, and he ruins it. The tension as they wait for him to get angry and spoil their nice time is all too real. Very cleverly, honestly done.

Anything that gets kids off screens is good

@LizzieVereker Exactly, they explore many different types of family. And yes re the dinner time scene - I lived that many times over. I remember reading it and literally thinking "Wait, that happens in other families, too?" It's why these sorts of books are crucial: so that kids understand they aren't alone.

I also remember relating to the quiet awkwardness of Ellie in the ‘Girls in...’ series - especially having lovely gorgeous friends and not feeling 100% confident in your teenage body.

I loved her books, and would happily read them all again now in my mid 20's. My top 3 were Best Friends, Tracey Beaker and Double Act. But honestly I love them all! Cliffhanger from the earlier days is one of the best too!

I adored Jaqueline Wilson. I had divorced parents and an unhappy home life and it was comforting to see that represented rather than feeling like everyone else had a perfect family and I was alone. I haven’t read Love Lessons though, it does sound a bit dodgy.

My dad met her on a train once and said she was lovely. Apparently he started talking about how much I loved her books and she went “oh lovely, how old is she?” and he had to reply “26!”

I loved JW books, although I don’t remember Love Letters. My best friend also loved JW and we waited for the latest releases and it was a race to read them so we could talk about them over the phone after school (and it was also a race to discuss the book before our mums kicked us off the phone to ring someone else or because they wanted to go on the Internet 😂).

I liked that the books were about girls my age and mostly from divorced families, it felt relatable. A lot of the characters had a life worse than I did and I think it helped to develop empathy and my interest in understanding other people’s points of view. However, I didn’t have the same world view as a (pre) teen that I do now and I didn’t pick up on some of the deeper problems in the stories. I think this can be said of quite a few young adult books though. Re-reading YA series as an adult, Harry Potter and Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses spring to mind, I pick up more issues than I ever did as a child. The lessons we learn from books as children are different than those as adults. I think that’s the great things about books that some of the best we can keep the-reading and take different things from it at different points in our life. One of my favourite books is Matilda, aimed at young children and that focuses on Matilda’s child abuse, Miss Honey’s child abuse, criminal activity of her parents and an off the books adoption. As a child, I just thought I was like Matilda because we both liked to read and I spent a long time staring at things trying to make them move.

Songs and TV are also the same. I remember my mum having kittens at me singing Spice Girl lyrics. It’s only singing the lyrics as an adult that I realise how problematic they can be

I think with regards Love Letters, obviously the teacher had a duty of care and he was in the wrong. That is clearly wrong. However, 20 years ago when Love Letters was written, yes it was still wrong then, but in my experience that reflects on the situation at the time of writing. For new releases of those books, I think you should add a preface that says this is actually abuse and here is a list of numbers you should call if you find yourself in this situation. It’s still a very valuable lesson in how you could easily find yourself in that situation and thinking it’s right.

My 2 girls were unpopular with classmates at one time for their view that the Tracy Beaker books were complete rubbish. They had first-hand experience of the fostering and adoption systems and an adoptive mum who still worked for a fostering agency. At 8 and 11, they knew how badly researched and written the Beaker books were.

They're novels not reportage, I'm pretty sure even Dickens got things wrong sometimes

@CluelessBaker oh my God I've just remembered this part and now my heart is broken. God damn early 2000s books!

DD was a voracious reader:
Jacqueline Wilson
Ann Fine
Flower Fairies
Lemony Snicket
Michele Paviour
Enid Blyton
J K Rowling
Tolkien
Anne of Green Gables
Noelle Streatfield
Horowitz
Caroline Lawrence
C S Lewis
Dr Zeuss
And I am sure many many others

It's all part of a balanced score card and like fine wine, you have to try some vino on the way.

One thing I remember distinctly is that she told her English teacher in Y7 that she'd read Atonement. He said "wow, brilliant, what did you think? If I'd suggested that to Y7 I'd lose my job.

@ReggieCat Ah, I had no idea TB was badly researched. Again, I have no knowledge of the foster system. I remember liking the character of Tracy very much and not really paying attention to the setting itself, beyond feeling bad for her. TB is one of her earlier novels though, so hopefully her recent works are more accurate.

@RaspberryToupee Yeah, LL was very much a product of its time. I doubt it would be published today. A little message at the beginning/end with numbers e.g. childline would be helpful.

i’ve always loved JW. i’m 28 now and my mum still buys me her books every christmas 😂 i’ve got every one she’s ever written. i’ll definitely let my daughters read them when they’re older but i’ll be sure to discuss with them some of the issues the books deal with. i was quite a sensitive child and some of the books upset me when i was younger, especially the illustrated mum and dustbin baby. and the cat mummy. god that was morbid!

It's all part of a balanced score card and like fine wine, you have to try some vino on the way.
Love this I too read a bunch of classics and then some modern novels as well. I enjoyed classic books with historical settings more, still do, but sometimes you need something that you can truly relate to: even if the themes from older books are relevant to your situation, it can be hard to realise that as a child.

Can I hijack this thread and ask what age JW is suitable for?
My DD got a box set as a present but I’m not sure what age they’re aimed at. She’s 7

@ReggieCat

My 2 girls were unpopular with classmates at one time for their view that the Tracy Beaker books were complete rubbish. They had first-hand experience of the fostering and adoption systems and an adoptive mum who still worked for a fostering agency. At 8 and 11, they knew how badly researched and written the Beaker books were.

I’m not saying they’re not badly researched (I wouldn’t know) but the book was written in the early-mid 1980s and I know people going through the care system then who had a massively different experience than those who a friend of mine fostered. So I wonder if the Tracey Beaker book (the first one) was simply very dated to the time?

I remember the illustrated mum that one really upset me as a kid. But I loved her books was reading them from 9 all the way up to my late teens

All children’s books are full of trauma once you get to the 9-12 bracket. If they’re not, they’ve got an agenda to push, climate change, dystopian futures etc I’ve found it a struggle to find books for my son that aren’t thoroughly depressing. If the child does have two happily married parents at home, you can be sure he’s the victim of bullies at school!

I remember reading the girls in love series and lapping it up but in retrospect had a lot of depressing narrative about feeling fat and almost “tips” for anorexia.

Much preferred the Georgia Nicholson books by Louise rennison. Hilarious.