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?

Get back to that public interest publication defence! You’re not being paid to post on Mumsnet.

How great that she loves reading! It could be far worse.

Try getting her Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. I read that at 13 and I swear I nearly died laughing!!

My 6YO loves mr men and some of their stories are very out of date and condescending. She also loves roald dahl. As amazing as his writing is he has some very grim and again out of date views about parents and children alike. However, both are very well written literature and better than a lot of the david walliams modern crap that's out there so I'd rather she read this than nothing. We just read a lot together and talk about the problematic bits

Because it's relatable to a lot of kids, and for kids that it's not, it's eyeopening to see that life for a lot of people isn't ballet lessons and disneyland.

Always thought they were a bit mid, far better out there

I really can't see the problem here. Her reading educational books that bore her will turn her away from reading. Even as an adult, I don't want to read educational books, sounds dull! I want an immersive story.

At 12, jacquline Wilson and Ally's World was the only thing I was interested in. And it's not inappropriate, she'll hear much worse on the playground and through classroom gossip.

OMG I remember Stranger With My Face. That was pretty disturbing. I did also read lots of Sweet Valley High, and a spin-off family saga all about generations of the Wakefield twins, complete with Bruce Patman-a-like villain in each generation. Now that was quality literature.

At school when I was 12, many of the other kids didn't read at all and I remember our English teacher telling us that it didn't matter what we read, even the back of the cereal packet, as long as we were doing it (this is for @Custardandrhubarbcrumble )

But they're what her daughter wants to read right now. It doesn't really matter what we think. If you stop her reading them she'll be turned right off reading and switch to crappy tiktoks about skincare for 50 year olds which from what I can see are a million times more mind-numbing

She’s reading! When I was 12, I’d have hated my parents policing my books. I still read Enid Blyton, Jill’s pony books but was also reading The Exorcist and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. They could be worse-try reading A Little Princess-no foster homes then!

Bruce Patman & Lila Fowler☺️ Memories!

I had an amazing English teacher who said she didn't care what we read, as long as we read. I read all sorts of bollocks. And some good stuff. Sometimes you want a soap opera, sometimes Newsnight. It's all good.

She writes for different age groups.

The more mature-aimed books deal with things like parental addiction, suicide, teachers having relationships with underage students, parental mental health issues, eating disorders, full parent abandonment, parental cancer, teen pregnancies.

Her mid-range = parental death, coming out, divorce, fostering, losing virginity, things like that.

Ha, did we have the same teacher?!

It's sad that a lot of authors I read in my childhood have fallen out of favour now, like The Queen's Nose, and Anne Fine's books.

I was also a huge lover of JW as a kid. She covers teen/YA issues in a hugely relatable way and I still find her books a huge source of comfort. For what it’s worth, I’m now an author myself (and relatively good at it) in no small part thanks to reading. I learned everything from it, including the saucier stuff as I was growing up. Don’t discourage it!

I think it's great that she so into reading!

It could be a mobile phone obsession instead, mindlessly scrolling through you tube/whatever

Having said that I don't know the JW books....off to have a search

I was totally into Judy Blume books at a similar age....I remember Forever being passed around the classroom during year 6 (aged 10/11) and reading it goggle eyed

Still can't see the name Ralph without it reminding me

YABU. Firstly burning through entire series of easy reading trash is a great way to get hooked on reading, whether it is Sweet Valley or Goosebumps or the Chalet School (all of which I enjoyed). Secondly, Jacqueline Wilson books are a good way for kids to slightly expand their social understanding without running into anything horrifying. I say that as someone who read Flowers in the Attic at 12 and still wishes I hadn't.

I think JW is great. I loved reading the Hetty Feather series to DD and it was probably the closest DD (or me!) would get to reading about life in Victoria times. At 12 you want to read something a bit edgy about different life experiences.

I also loved the book Junk by Melvin Burgess that others have mentioned - I wanted to call my future child Lily after the character in the book, as it was still an old-fashioned name then, but by the time I had my DDs years later, Lily had made a comeback and was super popular. Like others I also read Flowers in the Attic and Point Horror as a teen!

LOVED Jacqueline Wilson, I turned out ok…☺️

I read all the Jacqueline Wilson books in my early teens, looking back on them now they seem very cringy but I enjoyed reading and still do and I eventually moved on to read all sorts of classics.

YABU. She’s reading, and enjoying them. I read lots of school stories at her age, but also tried Jane Eyre and I shouldn’t have, put me off for a while. Of course there are loads of other authors she could read, and she will, but not right now.

booktrust recognise kids get stuck though: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2018/march/what-to-read-after-jacqueline-wilson/#:~:text=Books%20for%20younger%20readers%20in,their%20sparkling%20first%20person%20narrative.

(they do it for other authors too).

She might like the Geek Girl series.

I always suggest Diana Wynne Jones to any voracious reader.

Is JW really any "worse" than the older Judy Blume books? Asking as the mother of a 12 year old DD who hates books with female protagonists.

Ha ha, think I was the same age when I read Flowers in the Attic (then all the sequels!).

I think her books are a load of tosh, just like the Walliams type writers.

Bloody hell! Jacqueline Wilson is nothing like the Walliams shite - she can write very readable and engaging sentences as opposed to the ghastly excuse for prose he churns out.

OP, your daughter is probably comfort reading. It’s a nice habit - reading things you love that don’t stretch you much, just for the fun of it.

A JW phase (or Percy Jackson) is nothing to bother about.

BTW has she tried Charlie Fletcher and the Stoneheart books? They’re great, and if nothing else she’ll learn about London 😉

I loved Jacqueline Wilson books from younger than that. While they’re not academic I think they’re good for emotional education, yes they can be quite heavy but they teach you about how different peoples lives can be