The new children's laureate is ...

[roisin]

Jacqueline Wilson

Anyone else very disappointed?

i9 read all jaquline wilson when i was a bit younger it hought they were good

Hmm... Does no-one else care? I'm fuming about this. What is Jacqueline Wilson going to do for children's literature? Surely the kind of children who most need encouraging to read are exactly not the kind of children to whom JW novels appeal.

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Do you think it had anything to do with her being the most borrowed author from libraries ever (library membership boosts reading interest/ability etc etc)?
I do think it's a shame - very pre-teen female orientated without a lot of scope for much else, and nothing particularly new or exciting.

Very disappointing for me although DD1 loves her books (banned at present as lead to a number of rather inappropriate phrases being used). I suspect my disapproval makes them even more appealing so perhaps I ought to start reading them!

Oh I'm sorry, I forgot about book club, I just looked in the news one!

Anyway I do like dear Jackie, DS2 hardly reads at all but I think he has read more of her than any other writer and he won't consider MM.

roisin, who do you mean by "the kind of children who most need encouraging to read are exactly not the kind of children to whom JW novels appeal"?

(DS2 gets his inappropriate language from the Simpsons of course - no contest!)

I dislike the Jacqueline Wilson books I have read so far and would gladly steer my children (9 & 7) away from them. I don't think the emotional turmoil which the characters go through is wholly appropriate for my children, although I know of other parents who are very keen on JW and think of them as a good starting point for many childhood/adolescent issues.

DS2 likes Cliffhanger , The Suitcase Kid , Tracy Beaker and Double Act (which we saw at the Lowry a couple of years ago).

It would be lovely for me if he read the sort of books I like but you can't make someone read something, can you?

I bought Dustbin Baby at his request from the school Book Fair, but I read it first and that one definitely isn't suitable for a pre-teen - very dark.

I'm pleased. I run the school library and JW is one of the most borrowed authors. While I find some of her books depressing (Illustrated Mum, Suitcase Kid), children don't seem to. I do feel that books which are more suited to teens should not have the same type jackets as those suited to pre - teens, yet all JW titles seem to have the same type Nick Sharret illustrations on the cover.

For example, Girls in Love, is a long way away from Tracy Beaker, and how are parents supposed to know the difference before reading them themselves?

I agree, zaphod, Dustbin Baby being a perfect example of that.

oops! never done that before!

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I do wish she wrote more books for and about boys.

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I find that boys borrow her titles for younger children, like Cliffhanger and the Werepuppy ones.
Done what, Lurkaholic?

Forgot to change a mucking-about name back, zaphod. But with a bit of luck nobody will know it was me

I knew who this was going to be before I opened the thread. What an incredibly unimaginative choice.

I mean, I guessed J Wilson, not you roisin!

ahha.. guess that explains why she will be 'too busy' to do a school event in October...(I checked earlier this month with her publishers)

er.. shouldn't this be exactly what she should be doing?

Think she is a bit too obvious for children's laureate tho, and whilst flavour of the month now, will it last?

who is mm?

JW is not the worst choice I can think of though.

I think it should have been justin from Tikkabilla.

Michael Morpurgo , SP.

(Irrelevant factoid - my dad used to work with his dad!)