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?

If she is a reader then she will probably read all kinds of stuff. I did at that age, lots of rubbish but also lots of classics. I wouldn’t worry about as she will grow out of the JW stuff very quickly.

Had to look up Forever... as that one missed me by! Only Judy Blume I remember reading was Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Blimey feel like I missed out massively!!

Mind you I was about 15 when I discovered Fanfic and oh boy is there some learning there!

It was also about then I was going through a Robin Hood fix and read Outlaw where someone graphically gets their tongue cut out sooooo

Incidentally did just make me think DD (12) came home asking for a book called Dear Child that another Y7 was reading. I realised it wasn't a YA book so said I'd get it and read it and then decide if she could read it. It was in no way appropriate - all about kidnap, rape, abuse. It was a great read but in no way suitable for a 12 yo! So in comparison I'm sure JW is fine!

DD was reading JW at 9/10. I thought they were jolly good. She also read the Ruth (sp) Lawrence Roman Mysteries, Michelle Paviour Wolf books and Lemony Snicket at about the same time. She read Atonement aged 11 or 12! Reading is good. A diverse selection helps make the reader aware of good and bad and what they like. Rather like wine!

She's now an English teacher and loves her subject albeit with sanitised texts.

It is brilliant that she has found an author that she loves, that she is loving reading in general, and is able to immerse herself in another world through words. JW has some great characters, great stories and lots about friendships and family relationships - and if you are a comfortably off, stable middle class family, it will raise your DD's understanding of and empathy for children from different backgrounds (eg. care system). She won't be reading JW forever. She'll move on to something else and then something else that hopefully she loves as much. In the future she may have treasured memories of this time and of reading these books.

Just to add, I was reading Lace, Thornbirds and Flowers in the Attic at that age. Remember them all with great fondness! I'm still a voracious reader.

It's sweet that she's found something she likes. I think a lot of girls like the fact that these books focus on girls and their lives and problems. I used to work in children's books and Cathy Cassidy and Fleur Hitchcock were also a hit with JW fans. Sarah Crossan's lovely books and the Haunting of Aveline Jones series were also successes :)
If she likes the historical JW, Emma Carroll's books could hit the spot too :)

Jacqueline Wilson has always been hated by parents and loved by some kids. She helps children at the beginning of puberty, think about adult themes that some children are grappling with. She also helps teenagers understand adult themes that their friends are grappling with.

I loved Jacqueline Wilson’s books at the same age. Her books opened me up to a whole world of struggles and showed me the different struggles many people faced such as homelessness in the bed and breakfast start, divorce in the suitcase kid and of course Tracey beaker living in a children’s world. I like to think reading these books at such a young age made me a more empathetic person and gave me a greater understanding of the real world. Also, as previous posters have said there’s a lot worse on tik tok.

Has your 12 year old experienced bereavement, blended families, the care system, eating disorders? Educational isn’t just about content on the curriculum, it’s about other people’s experiences, broadening your world view and why people may respond differently to situations than you. She’s reading books that are broadening her horizon and perhaps allowing her to grow emotionally.

I read JW books growing up, they helped me develop empathy. I also read Flowers in the attic (which I still don’t think my mum knows I read). But aged 8-9 I read goosebumps. After Jacquline Wilson I moved onto Junk and Malorie Blackman, which definitely aren’t light topics. It’s all about learning about how the works and how people view it differently.

When I was 14 I started reading my dad's Edna O'brien novels.
He never said a word but they all disappeared from the shelf. 😆

If I was young I know I would be reading all the Jacqueline Wilson books. I don't think they are inappropriate at all, children usually like to read about characters and situations slightly older than themselves. Like others said, I read the Flowers in the Attic books at that age, which were seriously dark. And Judy Blume's Forever, and also I went through a phase of reading Jackie Collins Lucky books at not much older!

I don't like to try to control what my children read, and my mum never tried to stop me reading anything or expressed any opinion on it.

Yes (in my opinion) you are being unreasonable.

Jaqueline Wilson books seem to be what the kids like.

I have a 12 year old (year 9) and they are reading far more advanced literacy than JW.

What do you find inappropriate about the books apart from the fact they seem a bit childlike?

I would also encourage the love of reading regardless of if it is JW or any other reading.

I loved - Judy Blume, Point Horror, Roald Dahl as a child. I also still love reading as an adult.

She is going to the library, she is borrowing and reading physical books, I think that is wonderful.

It's great that she's finding pleasure in reading - be grateful for that! I'm sure the JW phase will pass.

I had to keep my mouth shut when my children were little, because I find most children's literature really irritating. But I'm not the target audience (I had to keep reminding myself). It's the formulaic-ness, the goody-goodiness, the way children's authors jump on the bandwagon of fashionable issues so predictably etc, etc. But they're children's author, I grumpily accept. I think it's really important NOT to express your adult criticism of your daughter's choices - she'll move on, and it would very much undermine her pleasure if you were negative about JW.

Confession: I didn't enjoy children's books as a child. I became a reader at 14 when I discovered adult literature. But as an adult there are still some amazing classic children's authors that I love and respect - but they'd be considered really unfashionable now. But wow, were they well-written with depth and perception.

I think they are educational. Part of social development is understanding different people's lives and situations. Her age is a key age where you really begin to grasp this.

I've just remembered that when I was a pre-teen (many years ago) my best friend's teenage sister had a collection of Pan horror story books, We used to pinch them and utterly terrify ourselves reading them. Even the covers used to scare me witless.

Also imagine if every time you read something light hearted someone else suggested you should be reading something better like Tolstoy?

What’s wrong with Jacqueline Wilson? I read Forever Amber at 12. Totally inappropriate I realise now.

My parents used to have a bookshop, where I worked sometimes, and we heard this so often.

It is frustrating but it's just not worth worrying about. As PPs say, it's good that she has the reading habit, don't do anything to stop that.

From the ages of 8-12 I read nothing but pony books, eventually this led me to Flambards and from there it was pretty much straight on to Jane Austen! If your DD loves reading that much she'l be fine.

I read a few Jean Plaidy books when I was young (several of them started with the protagonist as a small girl). The main result appears to have been a deep-seated feeling that as a Protestant I should be wary of Catholics 😮(still at least it meant I had a vague idea of what people were talking about over Northern Ireland). I think a fair bit went over my head - eg when she said Lucy was dying of a condition that often affected those who had lived her sort of life I assumed that meant she was exhausted from all the travelling! Anyway, Madame Serpent about Catherine de Medici was quite dark right from the start and I don't think it traumatised me.

What kind of stupid snobby nonsense is this question? I loved JW books from primary school up to probably year 9. I also got top grades at school, not that it matters.

I'm too old to have read JW. At 12 it was Jilly cooper and Jackie Collins, but I probably re-read Malory towers and St Clare's every summer.

Childhood books are like a warm hug. Especially over the summer when she'll need to be recharging.

Judy bloom is brilliant

I think particularly between around 11 and 14, girls have so much going on in their bodies and lives that they cling to the familiar in what they read. I remember my DD at 13, whose favourite book (read sooo many times) was "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry". When she started GCSE she was in the top set for English and was disheartened by being faced with Thomas Hardy as the novel choice. When she was told the book for the second set was Roll of Thunder, she wanted to drop back to that set. I asked how bored she thought she'd be after two years of studying a book she already knew by heart, and which of the two options she thought she might actually learn something from, and she grumpily agreed to stay where she was. After two years she loved Thomas Hardy and read all his other novels too.