Jacqueline Wilson

[LaBlonde]

she is (imo anyway!) the greatest children’s author the uk ever produced. she writes about so many deep and sometimes dark themes but never patronises or talks down to her audience. she is single handedly responsible for my lifelong love of reading.

i stood in the same pub as her in hay-on-wye once but was too scared to speak to her because i knew i would cry she’s a legend.

edit: the girls series was huge for teenage me too. i wanted to be the cool friend (magda?) so badly! and those got really dark sometimes!

 

[penny1992]

I was reading about Jacqueline Wilson, the author, and can't believe she's 77! Who else loved her books when they were young?
I was lucky enough to meet her a few times at book signings and I recall her being lovely.

What were your favourite books?

Mine were:
Double Act
Best Friends
The Suitcase Kid
Vicky Angel
Sleepovers
The Girls series
The Cat Mummy
The Bed and Breakfast Star

I wasn't keen on the Tracey Beaker books but did enjoy the tv show.

I love how she tackled mature problems in a culls friendly way. Did anyone else have the Jacqueline Wilson diary? It was orange. I treasured it!

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Child friendly**

 

[NowIsGood]

I feel Nick Sharratt played a HUGE role in getting JW books noticed. There was something about the illustrations on JW books that was just so eye-catching and mesmerizing! I'll be honest as a kid I bought a lot of JW books based on the covers alone!

 

[cryptix]

I was never a fan of the girls series but I know a few of you mentioned them here...

 

[DanaScully]

I adored JW books. Some of them were quite raunchy!

Does anyone remember the Girls in Love TV show based on the book also?

 

[soymilk]

Bad Girls was my absolute fave - I read it so many times I could quote it and tell you what page that quote was on

 

[cryptix]

I didn’t read any of her adult novels (might check them out) but I read several of her pre-Tracy Beaker teen novels as discussed somewhere in this thread that I really liked that were much more gritty and realistic than her popular titles
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It might have been on this thread but I read somewhere because she’s older now (78) she felt like she wasn’t so in touch with modern life with the young group she writes about and for and so went into the trend of writing children’s books based on classic/older novels
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Yeah I read this somewhere...I'm really not keen on the more recent of hetty feather etc.


I know this is morbid but it will be a really sad day when JW is no longer with us,in my eyes anyway she really meant so much to me as a youngster.

 

[mochibean]

she is (imo anyway!) the greatest children’s author the uk ever produced. she writes about so many deep and sometimes dark themes but never patronises or talks down to her audience. she is single handedly responsible for my lifelong love of reading.

She's also the reason I'm studying children's literature right now at uni and I'm loving it. Her books got me through so much as a child.

 

[navybluewolf]

oh man she was my favourite author growing up. The first book of hers was Bad Girls.
My favourite book was/is The Illustrated Mum. It reminded me so much of my mum when I was younger, she behaved in a similar way to Marigold, and before my brother was born it was just me and my sister, both of us with different dads like star & Dolphin. We also have hippy-ish names like them. Although my sister was younger, she was always the super popular one like Star. I was more like Dolphin. My mum has some MH issues and was always doing odd things when we were younger. It was very isolating. She once bought rolls & rolls of tape to tape up the windows incase Osama Bin Laden came down the road and tried to kill all the Jews ( we’re Jewish), her words. She once made us get up at 4am and drove us to the coast to escape ‘them’. She was obsessed with the idea of catching aids and went to the health clinic multiple times a year to get tested, didn’t stop her having a new boyfriend every month though. Every time she had a cold or something she would say ‘it’s you-know-what! It’s the symptoms!’. She was convinced you could catch aids from a toilet seat and wouldn't use public toilets. Tbh I say was, she still is like this.
I have an eye tattoo on the back of my neck like Marigold, as a tribute to the book.

 

[HockyRorror]

I was never a fan of the girls series but I know a few of you mentioned them here...

exciting! As much as I loved her books I hope she updates the language in this new one. It’ll be jarring to read in 2024 a 13 year old saying “oh, mummy, don’t be so utterly ridiculous” compared to “give me back my fucking VAPE”

 

[BigBrenda]

I loved her books. Still read them now when I come across them. My mum was convinced my behaviour was terrible because I loved Tracy Beaker. Spent many a day telling my mum to Bog off

 

[gossiplovexx]

I was worried this was a bad thread I was wondering what my child hood hero had been up to or maybe there was an influencer with the same name

 

[AliceInWanderLost]

oh, i love this thread! Jacqueline wilson was my favourite author for the whole of my childhood - I think the first book I read was the Suitcase Kid, which was so relatable to little me, because my parents were going thru a messy divorce at the time. I also loved Tracy Beaker, The Bed and Breakfast Star, Bad Girls, Double Act, The Illustrated Mum, read them all multiple times, and I also had a copy of The Lottie Project signed by her, because I met her once and she was so incredible, rings on every finger! totally starstruck!

i also went thru a stage where I wrote her letters sometimes, and she replied every time, always with a few of her own little illustrations and drawings - often of the sylvanian rabbit character Radish once I told her The Suitcase Kid was my favourite book! I think the last one I read was Dustbin Baby, because I decided I was "too old" to keep reading her books, but there are so many of the books she has released since then that I would secretly love to read, despite now being in my thirties!

 

[HockyRorror]

I just hope they achieved their dreams if any of them are depressed and tied to horrible husbands it will break my heart

it’s JW, I think that’s a given for at least one of them…

 

[scouseconstantine]

I hate the fact it’s a trend on TikTok atm today her books were sooooo traumatising how were kids even allowed to read them???

As a child who grew up in an abusive home I devoured them! They weren’t traumatising, they were real. Every other book had perfect families and it was just not relatable for me. Her books made me feel normal almost? Like I knew other children at school had these perfect families and it was nice to know I wasn’t alone

 

[chamomileteaeconomyvodka]

I didn’t read any of her adult novels (might check them out) but I read several of her pre-Tracy Beaker teen novels as discussed somewhere in this thread that I really liked that were much more gritty and realistic than her popular titles
---


It might have been on this thread but I read somewhere because she’s older now (78) she felt like she wasn’t so in touch with modern life with the young group she writes about and for and so went into the trend of writing children’s books based on classic/older novels
---
Did anyone ever read a story (not JW, another female author) I think was written in the 80s/90s and called something like “letters from the lovestruck teenager” and the protagonist used to write to Mizz magazine bitching about her sister and family and life. I loved that book, and thought it was much more realistic

I loved letters of a lovestruck teenager- it didn't take itself as seriously which was really nice.



Knowing that Ellie, Magda and Nadine (although they're not real) would be in their 40's now makes me feel so old. Interested to read it!

 

[bcfc999]

The Angus, Thongs series used to have me in stitches as a teen - I had to stop reading them in public cos I ended up crying with laughter on a bus

 

[Ingognito.Queen]

Just got mine on Audible - going to start listening now!

Also, how nostalgic is the book cover, I remember it so well....

 

[emm]

Really looking forward to the Girls sequel!

Same! I've been listening to them on youtube to help me sleep, hadn't realised when I first read them how toxic all the men seem are. Ellies dad, her boyfriend, basically all the boys involved. Not sure if it's me being older or that times have changed a bit, excited to see if it's the same or if that aspect has also changed

 

[follyol]

Not to derail the thread but echo what others have said - JW was my childhood fave but as I got older Louise Rennison was my fave- I’ve re read the Angus thongs etc. series as an adult and can confirm that they are just as funny now as they were when I was 12, if not funnier!

I vividly remember doing the boob pencil test that Georgia does if one of the books (if you know, you know) and being somewhat unsurprised that it just fell to the floor but hopeful things would change as I got older! Unfortunately over 20 years later nothing much has changed