12 year old obsessed with Jacqueline Wilson books.. Aibu to think there is better out there?

[Breakdancing]

My 12 year old has come back from the library with another stack of Jacqueline Wilson books. I've flicked through some & they are mildly inappropriate but are in the young readers section.. I love that she is a bookworm but aibu to be annoyed with her obsession with Jacqueline Wilson?

I adored JW - even queued for hours to get her to sign one of my books (which my mum then accidentally took to the charity shop 😭). I turned out just fine and hope that my daughter grows up to enjoy them too.

I think it's more that they are all J. W, all her library selections are J. W, I'd like if she was reading more historical books, they just don't seem challenging. But as I said I've said nothing but have come to mumsnet to vent instead!

Historical books 😐 she’s 12!
I think you need to lower your expectations a bit.

You daughter is reading for enjoyment, she is clearly enjoying JW, and I guess will read them all.

Why would she choose to read something historical ?

She could of course move on to Fifty Shades of Grey...

Oh bless her, she’s only 12!
Reading should be fun, for escapism.
When I was 12 I was reading JW, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club etc etc. I absolutely loved them. (And I now have an Eng Lit degree, if that makes you feel better!)
There’s plenty of time for more advanced books when she’s older. Please don’t push her into reading things she doesn’t want to, as she may lose her love for reading all together.

I mean this kindly,but just try to be grateful that she enjoys reading. So many kids her age don't.

Tbf I was a teenager in the mid 70s - if there were YA books they were American and didn't make it to our local library!

I was obsessed with JW I then became obsessed with VC Andrew's books now they are disturbing 😂

I read The Thorn Birds and Flowers in the Attic at that age, at least she is reading 🤣

I wouldn't worry my bright as a button daughter loved reading animé books. She didn't turn stupid after reading them.

Don't be such a snob!

When I was 12 I was reading Danielle Steele and Mills and Boon books. No idea why my mum let me. Just be happy she’s reading

My DD poured over JW books at this age, then moved onto Cathy Cassidy. She has a very wide range of reading genres, nothing wrong with JW!

There are loads of beautifully written historical children's books though.

Frances Hodgson Burnett, LM Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott and E Nesbit were firm favourites of mine before I was 12 and I do think it is a shame if children "age out" of the storylines before being ready for the prose.

I don't get why people are so snobby about reading. Why do books have to be educational? They can just be enjoyment. Presumably you don't only let her watch documentaries on TV? Reading nothing but JW for a few months is still vastly better than virtually any screen based entertainment. I really wouldn't say anything to put her off.

YABVU.

I had a fairly chaotic childhood and JW books were the only books that were remotely relatable to me. They're brilliant.

I'm an adult and I'm not interested in reading historical books let alone a 12 year old!

I agree it’s a bit limiting. Dd10 has been obsessed with JW since she was 8, barely reads anything else and rereads them a lot too. She does read a lot but I I feel she’s not moved on for a couple of years and should read some more challenging books - something longer and more varied in storyline and vocabulary. I do encourage new authors but JW is the main author.

if she’s had a phase before, I guess she will move on to another author at some point!

My daughter devoured Jacqueline Wilson books. Now she doesn’t read at all.

id love to see her nose deep in a book again.

I am not familiar with JW, but I see from this thread that she wrote Tracey Beaker. My DS wouldn't read, but he liked TB on the telly when he was about 10. He was adopted and although some of the themes were a bit old for him, it did prompt conversations around his own circumstances, which was useful.

I was reading James Herbert at her age!

I loved all those books as a child but I just don’t think it’s realistic for a contemporary child to love them – I read them to my own kids and on the whole they left them pretty cold. As I said up thread one of them is reading English at Oxford now, though I do appreciate she has yet to obtain a Harvard PhD and win a Nobel prize do by Mzn standards is a loser 😂

I don't really see why, I grew up in the 90s so I was already pretty far removed from the lives of Sara Crewe and Anne of Green Gables, but I still loved them. They just require a bit more concentration than Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Tracy Beaker and I definitely think concentration spans are going down. Mine certainly has done and it's a vicious cycle; the more time you spend chasing short term dopamine highs on a screen the harder it is to read or do something which requires concentration.

@meandkarmavibe JW is still writing new books so there's plenty for "contemporary" children.

I got obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and the like at 12, that’ll knock her socks off after Robin Stevens.

Oh try her on some Diana Wynne Jones eg Howl’s Moving Castle, they have some family drama but also magic.

Yes I still read dd & her 9 year old sister. At the moment I'm reading The Snow Girl by Sophie Anderson, we're really enjoying it.