Jacqueline Wilson

[Auvergnewater]

I read a book of hers from the mid 1990s called The Bed and Breakfast Star. I think I read it ages ago, but I was a lot younger then (probably still older than the target audience) and I wondered if anyone else was familiar.

I was quite impressed with the way a chaotic family were shown and how Wilson shows some pretty harrowing themes in a child friendly way.

Anyone else a fan?

I don’t recall Tracy beaker sent in and out of the childrens home, but you have reminded me that I read the one as her as an adult fairly recently (2019ish) and found it rubbish - really boring.

I do wonder if I found it interesting as a look at the 1995-2005 era. As someone says above, I can’t see Love Lessons being published today.

I've just finished reading the primrose railway children with my daughter. She really enjoyed it. She's 7 but quite an advanced reader for her age. It seemed appropriate but in the book the 14 year old sister of the main character lies about her age and starts dating an 18 year old lad. When he finds out her real age the relationship doesn't end. I don't think this is very appropriate storyline for a kids book.

The only Jacqueline Wilson book I ever remember reading was Diamond Girls (I think that was the name)

I read it over and over and remember some parts being quite upsetting. I don't know why I didn't read more of her books as a child as I probably would have loved them, DD has a few but I don't know which series is which or whether it matters about reading them in order. She has written a lot of books!!

My daughter loves her books but I don't like the mention of weight in many of them. It's unnecessary.

I really liked them as I went to a rough primary school and none of the other books for kids had chain smoking mums, violent dads, kids being raised by nans etc. You have to frame them in the time they were written, there really were no books with single parent family's at that time! Unless there was one story with a mum who died of the pox or TB there really was no other writer who captured difficult kids being raised by single mums with dads who didn't want to know.
Also she inspired me to be a social worker.
Don't know if I blame her for that

She definitely recycles characters and themes though.

I think that’s why I prefer the earlier ones. The voices seem so much more authentic.

I loved them as a child/teen, but looking back, the one about the teacher/pupil relationship definitely glorified that relationship and is now terribly dated. I do wonder what she thinks of it now.

That one was weird.

I’ve just looked it up and it was published in 2005!

1985, maybe …

I found some of them weird. In one book an uncle was giving girls alcohol. I complained to my library as they had all the JW books in the Junior section.
The covers of the books are aimed at 10yr olds or younger but the content can be much, much grittier. Another book the step dad was abusing the main character. It was subtlely implied but still obvious what it was. If you child is younger than say 13, you'd want to look through the book yourself first. Some have age ratings on the back some don't.

They’re not perfect, especially by today’s standards but I will always adore her books. They were and are pretty unique in how she tells stories of different and dysfunctional families in a way that’s so accessible to all children.

Love Lessons was a weird one. The message I took from it at the time was more negative about home schooling families than about the teacher having a romantic relationship with a child.

I loved them when I was younger! I think part of the reason they’re written simply is that they’re meant to be accessible- your average 12 year old who’s been in and out of care, fir example, might want to read about someone like her but might not have the most advanced reading age.

I do agree about the anorexia stuff in Girls in Love though, that gave too much “guidance” I think.

My favourite was Dustbin Baby, would probably make me buckets if I reread it now I’m a mum!

I'm 46 so they weren't around when I was a child. My DD read quite a lot of them & I read them too, but there's many I haven't read.

I liked the Hetty Feather ones. I did not like most of the others.

I disagree that they are well-written. I think she recycles plot lines, and the writing is tired and cliched.

Some of her storylines are brutal, not in the way of telling a story honestly to children (which is how she always portrays it) but just sensationalist writing that I think breaks the contract with the reader & is both implausible & shocking.

There's an awful one where a child in a family is distressed, jumps out a window and dies; the story continues with the guilt felt by the parents at their treatment of child, at the very end she does a brisk chapter where it's all wrapped up, everyone is happy now. It was so trite.

If you are going to deal with serious issues, invest truthfully in the storyline & the characters.

I know she's very much loved, just not by me.

In every interview she talks about her unhappy childhood & how her parents treated her badly. It sounds very sad. But I feel it has overly permeated all her writing

I do accept there are many many books of hers I haven't read, however!

I loved Jacqueline Wilson books. I met her at a book signing for her new book at the time, Clean Break.

I remember reading Lola Rose and Diamond Girls again and again.

I also remember only being able to read Vicky Angel once and never went back to read that one again. I found it really upsetting.

I loved Lizzie Zipmouth and The Mum Minder. I think they were more suitable for younger ages.

@Legoisthebest

purpleme12 JW writes for different age groups. Some would be suitable from the age of 6/7 (The Mum Minder, Lizzie Zipmouth, Sleepovers) - others are for teens. Her latest 'Baby Love' is for teens and has "not suitable for younger readers" on the cover and when I bought it from WHSmith it was with the adult hardbacks not the children's. You just need to read the plot synopsis and check online if there is a recommended age.

Ok thank you Might get the ones you mentioned to read to her then and start with those

Hugsgalore I read The Primrose Railway and I seem to remember that when it was found out the sister was 14 the older boy didn't 'date' her but they stayed friends.

I think you're right on recycling characters.

Hetty Feather is basically Tracy Beaker made a bit historical. Perhaps a little bit softer because of her love for her foster family.

I suspect that's one reason why it didn't work for me. They're both tough, mouthy girls who push everyone close away from them. You can understand that in their situation.
Tracy would have social workers trying to understand her in today's world, so that does work.

But Hetty would have been either cowed or become a bully to survive. There wouldn't have given any leeway for her back then. She always came across to me as a very modern child placed into a historical book. She'd have worked better in a time slip story.

She always came across to me as a very modern child placed into a historical book. She'd have worked better in a time slip story

Tbh, I don’t think JW does historical characters well at all.

I think the ones she wrote aimed at the 9-12 bracket are best. The one I mentioned before would probably have been read by me for the first time when I was around 14, so slightly older than the target audience. I got it … but when I read it as an adult, I see how Elsa and her siblings aren’t sent to school, are allowed and encouraged to run free, survive on junk food, chaotic background with constant moving around.

Lola Rose and Illustrated Mum are well written too. Tracy beaker doesn’t work as a TV show (imo) you need to see her narrative in her head to understand her. I also like Dustbin Baby.

I loved them as a child and read loads - in my nice middle class no-issues family! But thinking about my own children reading them now (when they're old enough anyway), I think I would want to pre-read them myself first. She writes for a WIDE age range and you do NOT want your precocious primary school child getting hold of some of the teen books (ahem, as I did!)

My memory of them is that she had a good understanding of the experience of being a child in a world controlled by grown ups - a lot of empathy for the ways children try to cope with their essential powerlessness. But that the themes can be really intense - like Vicky Angel, where the main characters best friend dies in front of her then comes back as a ghost to torture her with the idea that it's her fault. I would be very careful to check exactly which books she's reading and that you think they are appropriate for her age and sensibility. I was a sensitive child and some of them really upset me.

Also as mentioned above a lot of her characters have issues with weight. Not just the proper teen ones too - I remember one with a fat girl who started shoplifting with a "glamorous" older friend and it was all about how hideous she was compared to her. There's a fine line between something being productively relatable and something which puts ideas into children's heads. I definitely got hold of the idea that I was supposed to hate my appearance as a pre-teen from reading. (Not just JW, I was bought Shout and Mizz magazines and all sorts of "teen" lit I wouldn't let my own daughters at - not sure what my parents were thinking, and they never had any kind of critical discussion with me about what I was reading.)