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Original poster

Most traumatic Jacqueline Wilson book?

212 replies

Msblueskies · 05/10/2023 13:54

Lighthearted… those who grew up on JW books in the 90s and 2000s which book was the most traumatic for you?

In my early 30s now and I absolutely adored all my JW books. But looking back a lot of the content was pretty dark 😅 I think for me Dustin Baby wins the prize for darkest and most traumatic at all. I read it at age 10!

OP posts:
Robotik · 05/10/2023 16:15

Oooh also the Hetty Feather books based off the foundling hospitals and her life after. LOVE those

MammaTo · 05/10/2023 16:15

VeronicaBeccabunga · 05/10/2023 14:06

The Cat Mummy [dead cat stored by child in bottom of wardrobe, 'embalmed' in bath salts] gave me the shudders.

Same.. This and Vicky Angel

Bigtom · 05/10/2023 16:18

Robotik · 05/10/2023 16:13

There is one called Lily Alone, where their mum goes off on holiday to Spain with her current boyfriend and their oldest daughter is left responsible at home for the other three younger siblings. The ending is horrendously sad!

Lola Rose was my fave. Mum gets breast cancer, they have to run away from their dad, but the ending is generally happy

I was coming on to say Lily Alone - I read it to my daughter and found it pretty traumatic myself!

SpaceJamtart · 05/10/2023 16:18

The bed and breakfast star made me really uncomfortable and sad as a kid. It all just felt a bit too close to home with Elsa's positivity and personality hiding everything thats wrong.

Beezknees · 05/10/2023 16:43

bambier · 05/10/2023 16:11

I reread them as an adult as I loved them growing up. Kind of ruined them for me!

Midnight was one that made me feel uneasy, it kept referring to 'games' her brother liked to play with her but which she didn't like, always wondered whether it was meant to be insinuating SA?

@SirenSays that was double act!

I always wondered that. The brother seemed like a psychopath.

GlitteringFeeling · 05/10/2023 16:56

@MyBigFatCapybaraI agree with you re. Love Lessons.

Interestingly I read this article in the Guardian where Jacqueline does have some reflections about Love Lessons (and was apparently somewhat uneasy at the time). It was written in 2005 not the 2010s… but still I also feel things should have been portrayed differently. Surely even in 2005 she didn’t want the message for the teen reader to be it was her fault?!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/07/i-wanted-to-be-no-1-but-a-certain-jk-rowling-came-along-jacqueline-wilson-on-rivalry-censorship-and-love

‘I wanted to be No 1. But a certain JK Rowling came along’: Jacqueline Wilson on rivalry, censorship – and love

Raised by a ‘scary’ father and a ‘terrible snob’ of a mother, the Tracy Beaker author has always understood the loneliness that marks so many young lives. But at 77, she’s never been happier

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/07/i-wanted-to-be-no-1-but-a-certain-jk-rowling-came-along-jacqueline-wilson-on-rivalry-censorship-and-love

Lammveg · 05/10/2023 16:58

The illustrated mum always stuck in my mind. Making me want to read them again now!

Original poster
Msblueskies · 05/10/2023 17:16

SirenSays · 05/10/2023 16:03

God this thread brought back some memories. The dead cat in the cupboard bothered me so much. I'd read so many JW books by then but I think that's where I stopped.
Which one had the twins, Ruby and garnet?

Double Act! Their mum is dead (of course) and I think the ending was only one twin passes the 11+ and they end up going to different schools, although it has been YEARS since I read that one.

Im definitely going to dig some of my old books out now for a reread, I think her books are the type that have lots of little details that adults pick up on.

OP posts:
riotlady · 05/10/2023 18:15

FWIW my dad sat next to Jaqueline Wilson on the train once and said she was lovely- busy answering fan mail by hand

WhatWhereWhenHowWhy · 05/10/2023 18:16

ILookAtTheFloor · 05/10/2023 15:41

The mental image of the mum pouring emulsion over her skin will always stay with me, from the Illustrated Mum.

Re-read it with my eldest and the themes are certainly heavy! Mental illness, child neglect etc.

^ this
I remember crying my eyes out at like 10/11 years old

FourStringsNoWaiting · 05/10/2023 18:22

The Suitcase Kid is underrated - it's about a girl trying to cope with her parents divorce and all the upheaval that can bring

I related very strongly.

Snowinjulyy · 05/10/2023 18:43

Loved her books, and my first thought was also dustbin baby for saddest book.

What was the one with a boy called biscuits? I think I really enjoyed it but that's the only thing I can remember about it now.

chatelai · 05/10/2023 19:03

The Illustrated Mum - I was only thinking of that yesterday. Lots of complex stuff there, including Dol's sister's boyfriend - that bit made me uneasy.

Shattered. It's beautiful, and messed up, and sad. Made me go and learn about Chihuly glass too.

The Cat Mummy gave me the horrors. I was an adult when I read it!

Girasoli · 05/10/2023 19:15

Was The bed and breakfast star star the one where there was a fire at the bed and breakfast and she saved everyone because she woke up from the smell of the fire thinking it was someone cooking chips? I loved that one.

I found The illustrated mum really upsetting, I kept my copy and occasionally re-read it though.

I'd love to get DS to read them but he can't even get past the cupboard under the stairs in Harry Potter so they are probably not for him!

IsabelaYourBoyfriendsHere · 05/10/2023 19:16

I love Jacqueline Wilson! I read a lot of books but The Illustrated Mum will always be my favourite book of all time. I found it sad and strange when I was little but its absolutely heartbreaking reading it again as an adult. I always wanted to be Dolphin's friend. ❤️

I reread Lily Alone only recently and I was surprised at how upsetting that one was, it didn't really register much when I read it as a child. My own kids are the same ages as the younger children in the story right now so I found it hard to read in some places.

JanS17 · 05/10/2023 19:18

Vicky Angel, for me. I lost a close friend when I was 11 so it really spoke to me.

verabarbleen · 05/10/2023 19:21

My sister Jodie and Vicky angel!
I loved the suitcase kid. I was a child
Of divorce and split my time between parents /had step siblings etc . It was so nice to read someone else had a similar lifestyle! Do girls like them now? I have a few I was thinking of giving to my niece but are they a bit too much now? 😂

verabarbleen · 05/10/2023 19:21

@riotlady Lola rose? I think?

verabarbleen · 05/10/2023 19:23

Oddly I loved watching Tracey beaker the tv she but was never a fan of the books!

SoCalLiving · 05/10/2023 19:24

I'm pretty sure JW wrote a short story sequel to Lola Rose and it has a very sad ending.

For me I couldn't deal with Vicky Angel, the whole concept of death freaked me out in that way.

Love Lessons made me feel very uncomfortable but I also may have tried to read it when I was too young.

Sunnydays41 · 05/10/2023 19:25

Oh wow, I've not heard of most of these. I think I read a few, but the only ones I really remember reading (and really 'enjoying' if that is the right word!) are The Story of Tracy Beaker and The Suitcase Kid. And was there one about a Mulberry tree or was that in The Suitcase Kid?

They all have very heavy themes. I have started reading Tracy Beaker with my nearly 7 1/2 year old; she is really enjoying it, but I am wondering if she is a little too young. I can't remember how old I was when I read it, but it was completely independently so maybe a bit older. She probably could read it herself, though some of the language is a bit old-fashioned so needs some decoding!

I have since seen that JW has subsequently written sequels to TB, so I am looking forward to finding out what happens next (I was very frustrated as a child that the story wasn't finished!).

JanS17 · 05/10/2023 19:26

Sunnydays41 · 05/10/2023 19:25

Oh wow, I've not heard of most of these. I think I read a few, but the only ones I really remember reading (and really 'enjoying' if that is the right word!) are The Story of Tracy Beaker and The Suitcase Kid. And was there one about a Mulberry tree or was that in The Suitcase Kid?

They all have very heavy themes. I have started reading Tracy Beaker with my nearly 7 1/2 year old; she is really enjoying it, but I am wondering if she is a little too young. I can't remember how old I was when I read it, but it was completely independently so maybe a bit older. She probably could read it herself, though some of the language is a bit old-fashioned so needs some decoding!

I have since seen that JW has subsequently written sequels to TB, so I am looking forward to finding out what happens next (I was very frustrated as a child that the story wasn't finished!).

The mulberry tree was in the suitcase kid!

Sunnydays41 · 05/10/2023 19:27

JanS17 · 05/10/2023 19:26

The mulberry tree was in the suitcase kid!

Show quote history

Ah, thanks!

Orangetattoo · 05/10/2023 19:28

Clean Break!

salamithumbs · 05/10/2023 19:34

I think the Illustrated Mum upset me the most, both the image of the mum pouring bleach all over herself, but also how unpredictable and erratic she was, all happy and manic one minute and talking about dying the next..I remember thinking I'd be so scared if my mum acted like that. And I hated when the sister went off with her dad so the main girl was alone with the mum, not knowing what to do. In hindsight I think I read it at too young an age (8ish?) and couldn't cope 😬
I also found The Diamond Girls kind of upsetting because of the mum next door secretly abusing her daughter, and Dustbin Baby because of the mum slitting her wrists, but not as much because I was older, 10 or 11. Vicki Angel freaked me out though.
Books that did not traumatise me:
Sleepovers, cliffhanger, buried alive, the bed and breakfast star, double act, the cat mummy