Most traumatic Jacqueline Wilson book?

[Msblueskies]

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!

Clean break. And the suitcase kid kind of alludes to it since the mum says she bought a toy rabbit for the girl's stocking, but doesn't explicitly say he's not real

@BertieBotts yes. I am guessing the reasons why children may be in care have changed since 1992, as the definition of abuse has widened quite considerably, thankfully. I know that's not the only reason children and up in care, of course.

I liked TB and also The Dumping Ground tv series' but I think the Tracy in the books was more likeable and had more depth as a character. The book Tracy was quite funny in between having understandable tantrums and tears. I loved the outrageous dares between her and Justine Littlewood! I don't think I could ever eat a worm! I don't think the tv Justine has as much spunkiness about her somehow.

Off topic but the girl in The Faraway Tree was Bessie, not Betty.

Jo, Bessie and Fanny. I think they are Jo, Beth and Fran now.

@Terfosaurus
Of course you're right. I felt it wasn't quite right, but couldn't think what it was.

@MargaretThursday i think I wouldn't have an issue with it if the quality of the reimagined classics was decent. I just think her own ideas are so much better. I love her original books. Except Midnight , for some reason I didn't enjoy that one.

@purpleme12 I'm not sure I would call that trauma, because by the time children are old enough to be reading even the younger age Jacqueline Wilson books they are usually aware Santa isn't real. I can't imagine a child of 7 upwards not knowing the truth about Santa. I daresay it must happen, but I can't see it happening on a large scale.

I'm not what this response is about.
I haven't said it was trauma?!
I asked a question and someone answered.

@salamithumbs thanks

That's true @purpleme12 you didn't say it was trauma, I think I got confused because the thread was about people finding some JW books traumatic and I wondered ? I have seen some threads on MN where posters claim their 10 year old still believes (I always think they're trolls personally but that's me 😁)

No offence intended at all @purpleme12 .

Off topic a bit but has anyone read the TB follow on books?

Ok I admit it. I am 32 years old and I still have to buy the latest Jacqueline Wilson, it makes me feel so cosy. When I’m feeling miserable I’ll read one in an evening.

growing up, Dustbin Baby and the Suitcase kid really stuck with me - I was about 10. I was an awful sleeper and the image of the girl keeping herself up all night was burned into my brain

as a teen - Love Lessons or Lola Rose…

after that - my sister Jodie. honestly it’s just absolutely traumatic 😅

I did love JW but agree that many of them from the 1980s wouldn’t get past today’s “sensitivity readers”.

Does anyone remember the Stevie Day books? Nobody ever seems to when I mention them, but they were my favourites by her. SD was a kickass teenage tomboy detective. There were some dark themes - I seem to remember drugs and badger-baiting in one - but she was such a refreshingly confident and self-possessed female protagonist.

Excellent idea for a thread by the way @Msblueskies

Midnight was another excellent one!

Did anyone read “how to survive summer camp”

that was one of my all time favourites

I used to copy the illustrations

We don't hear much about tomboys these days. Where did all the tomboys go?

@MankyMinge
I agree with you there, which is why I wonder why she's doing it.

I think for the Faraway Tree one she was approached by Enid Blyton's estate, or at any rate she gave that impression. I couldn't think why she'd be approached by them because she doesn't write fantasy generally, and her books are a long way from the cosy family life EB writes.
I also felt that a new writer would benefit far more from it than her, but that's personal opinion.

@MargaretThursday I guess it's all about money and the cost of living. Writers have to live, I suppose. Though I would have thought Tracey Beake r alone and all that went with that, multiple sequels, tv spinoffs, a magazine etc would have put her in the JK Rowling income bracket by now.

@Mankyminge

So true; the teenage tomboys of 50 years ago are all non-binary these days…

Yes that was one of my favourites! Doesn't get mentioned a lot, I think it might be one of the oldest from the 80s. I was thinking that's probably one of the least traumatising, as well as The Mum Minder.

A lot of people mentioning Girls Under Pressure but what about Girls Out Late where they go back to a flat with some men who try to give them drugs etc and they have to escape out a window?

Yes, I remember that one. Wasn't that the one where Magda has a crush on their teacher and tries to go to his house?

I didn't like Ellie's dad in those books. In Girls in Tears he was pretty horrible to Ellie.

I’ll have to look them up! Was one of her older ones about a frog that went on adventures?

The Mum Minder, along with Glubbyslyme, Mark Spark, Video Rose and The Left Outs were aimed at a slightly younger audience even than Tracey Beaker. They all seemed to be quite light hearted IIRC. The
Left Outs does deal with divorced parents and the protagonist is teased because she is fat, but she is a confident feisty child.

I liked how Jacqueline Wilson had some of her protagonists really shy and insecure or full of self doubts like Ellie from the Girls series, like Mandy from Bad Girls, Dolphin from The Illustrated Mum, Barbara from Deep Blue, Katherine from Waiting For The Sky to Fall, and others like Joan from The Left Outs and Tracey Beaker, Lolly from The Dream Palace etc very spunky and determined. As Cam Lawson from Tracey Beake r puts it when Tracey is asking her to advertise her as a tragic little waif so she will get adopted, "none of you (at the Dumping Ground) are like that! You're all gutsy and stroppy and spirited..." I think Peter Ingham probably is the only child who would make you feel all " awwww poor little scrap" and he did have an elderly couple wanting to adopt him.

That was a little later , maybe early 90s? A toad called Glubbyslyme IIRC.

@perfectsoundwhatever she has been writing since the early 70s, a lot of her fiction for teenagers was in the 80s. Have a look on ebay, there are some for sale. I can recommend This Girl, The Dream Palace, Waiting For The Sky To Fall, Amber, Deep Blue and Falling Apart for starters.

@Luddite26 yes I enjoyed all the follow up sequels to
TB. I think my favourite was the Christmas one where Tracey is chosen to be Scrooge in the school play. I loved catching up with her as an adult in My Mum Tracey Beaker and The Beake r Girls.

I was the same age as Tracey when the first book came out in 1992 so I've grown up with her really. As a mid 90s teenager I discovered some of her teenage novels from the 80s, by then out of print and I discovered her amazing vintage works.

in the 70s she wrote suspense novels for grown ups. I was about 14 when I discovered one of my parents had a copy of Let's Pretend. That was pretty disturbing but then it's a psychological thriller. It touches on homosexuality which was pretty daring in the early/mid 70s.

I found midnight very disturbing.

Katy is my absolute favourite JW book. I read the bed and breakfast star to my dc when we were homeless and they found it very relatable.

I love that the books are about children with problems. I think it's important that all children have books where the characters are similar to them. We are reading the second sleepover book at the moment and my dc are loving it.