Jacqueline Wilson

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Anita Bensoussane
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Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I was interested in the following article in today's Daily Mail as it reminded me of Nicolette Jones' talk at last year's Enid Blyton Day. Nicolette pointed out that the bulk of Enid Blyton's work combines reality with escapism, avoiding the "darkness" that tends to permeate so much modern fiction aimed at children.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770" target="_blank

The Daily Mail article is perhaps rather harsh towards Jacqueline Wilson but it does make some salient points. I've written elsewhere about my reading of Jacqueline Wilson's Lola Rose but it may be worth repeating here as my feelings echoed those of Winifred Robinson. I found Lola Rose a really harrowing read. It's about a girl aged 10-11 (who narrates the story) and her little brother aged 5, whose mother changes their names and takes them away to start a new life in London, in an attempt to escape their violent father. The mother is inadequate and irresponsible and the children are half-neglected, and put through one misery after another. Eventually - after about 200 pages of chaos and despair - the Wilson equivalent of an Aunt Linnie arrives and brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into the characters' sordid little world, but even then there are still a few shocks in store. Must admit I thought it a terribly distressing and negative book for children, despite the positive ending. I much prefer Enid Blyton's less graphic - but still gripping - exploration of family and social problems in books like The Six Bad Boys and Six Cousins Again. And Enid Blyton, unlike many other writers for children, manages to tackle tough issues in a fairly convincing manner without ever resorting to vulgarity - something for which she deserves credit.

My daughter read some Jacqueline Wilson books a couple of years ago - Double Act, which she borrowed from the school library, and Best Friends, which she received as a present. From what she said about them (I had a glance through them but didn't read them properly), they weren't so full of unremitting misery as Lola Rose, which I was relieved to hear. Interestingly, both those books contain positive references to Enid Blyton. In Double Act the main characters, who are twin girls, audition for the parts of Pat and Isabel in a stage version of Blyton's St Clare's series. Gemma in Best Friends hides a letter from her friend Alice "between the pages of my best-ever book, The Enchanted Wood. It was Grandad's when he was a boy, and when I was little he read it to me. I wished that Alice and I could find the Enchanted Wood, climb up the Faraway Tree, and clamber up the ladder into the land above - and never ever ever come back."

Regarding Winifred Robinson's comments on Michael Morpurgo, personally I don't find his books too bad as his style tends to be lyrical and his stories somewhat fantastical, softening the harshness. But in places his writing does resemble that of the rather more gritty Robert Westall. Westall's The Kingdom by the Sea is a wonderfully moving and thought-provoking story but Westall frequently uses a sprinkling of swear-words in his books - unnecessary, I think, and I must admit it makes me wince.

There appears to be a growing tendency today for authors to write books which are apparently aimed at children but are in reality quite "adult" in their themes.

Anita
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Kitty »

That was an interesting article - many thanks for the link. I've leafed through a couple of JWs, and thought them unutterably grim and depressing - which is not to say she isn't a talented writer, just that I walked away with the impression that they weren't my cup of tea!

Sometimes the FFOs and the FF, in particular, are spectacularly rude, but I always thought it was quite funny - even to the extent where Julian's cheek is his saving grace for me....

As you say, the text does seem a bit sensationalist overall. Since when did allowing someone of under 18 to drink alcohol at home inevitably equate to endangering their childhood, for example?!
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Kate Mary »

I broadly agree with the Daily Mail article. I have read only one Jacqueline Wilson title "The Illustrated Mum", it was a depressing book about two girls, Star and Dolphin with a manic depressive mother who is covered in tattoos. There is often no food in the house and she frequently neglects them. The girls have two different fathers and are terrified they will be taken into care, so they try to track down their fathers. The book was well written but the subject matter is enough to drive you to drink! Her books are hughly popular and I can see why because they are compelling reads, but give me Enid Blyton any day.

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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Pippa-Stef »

I went through a stage where when I was about nine to about eleven, even possibly thriteen, I was reading Jacqueline Wilson books.

They were rather depressing, and although I felt in some ways they portrayed some aspects of real life, I felt like they were a bit too one sided, focusing on the bad side of things only, becase it could be sensationalised so very much.

Some of her books for teenagers like(Edit- Sorry got the name of the book wrong) "Dustbin Baby" and The "Girls in Love" series (which a couple of years ago was made into a TV show for CITV starring Oliva Hallianman!) were much too advanced for a Girl of Thirteen, but when I came back to read them at about fifteen, they were in a prose style of younger teens.

I can say now, that her writing no longer appeals to me in the way that it used it. Although her style is very good, the fact remains that she doesn't carry her audience past about thirteen, when the teenage mind begins to wonder and pick up other types of book, which have either a more realistic feel, that is to say, real but not overly sensalionalised.

Enid Blyton on the other hand- A Childhood favourite, Carrys the reader with every word, and has a brilliant and entharling writing style. You never feel too old for the books, or too young! :D
Last edited by Pippa-Stef on 07 Apr 2008, 20:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Lucky Star »

I read an article about Jacqueline Wilson recently in which she was less than complimentary about Blyton. I cant remember where I read it now. The really interesting bit however was where she described her writing process as being like watching a cinema screen inside her head!! Sounds familiar does it not?
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Viv of Ginger Pop »

My mum has made the comment that in "classic" books like Little Women the children have to cope with inadequate mothers. Then there was the era of the Blyton type adventure story. But now children aren't allowed out by themselves, we are back to the inadequate family situation.

Having read the snippets at then end of the Daily Mail article, it makes Goon's caning of Ern (Hidden House) seem nothing out of the ordinary, yet this scene has been cleansed from the current edition. :evil:

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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Anna Moss »

I have read nearly all Jacqueline Wilson's books, but even thought Tracy Beaker is supposed to be Wilson's best book I do find her interesting, but its focus is too much on negative as pippa- stef said. I read Dustbin baby and I couldn't actually read it when I found out April's foster mum comitted suicide. I read that it was for the same age level as the other non-teenage books. There must have been a mistake! To me Wilson has a nice chatty style but is cretainly daring to write anything!
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by auscatherine »

Interesting article - a bit harsh, I thought though (although maybe Wilson was asking for it with those comments she purportedly made) .

My daughter really likes Jacqueline Wilson and I normally read them with her so we can discuss any more mature content in them (it can be hard to know from the cover and blurb sometimes what is going to be in a particular book). At the moment, I am in the process of reading Jacqueline Wilson's Double Act to my daughter and, as Anita says, there are lots of references in their to the twins of St Clare's, eg, Garnet reading their books, the twins auditioning for role in a proposed television series about the books which then inspires them (or one of them) to try and get a scholarship to a St Clares-type boarding school. The twin who gets into the school then starts devouring a whole lot of other boarding school books such as the Chalet school etc. Unlike the St Clare's books, Double Act is focussed on the increasingly troubled relationship between the twins (one of whom comes across as quite a bully) who seem overly interdependent in a way that is quite limiting for both of them. Having had friends who were twins and having read other books on the subject, I am aware that this can happen, ie, one becomes 'the quiet twin' etc and that becomes self-perpetuating and it is hard for the labelled twin to escape from that role (one friend of mine said she never really spoke to anyone but her twin when they were children as the 'outgoing twin' did all the communicating with the outside world for both of them).

Anyway, it is kind of interesting to contrast it with the St Clare's books which I am hoping to read to my daughter next (as reading this book has actually sparked her interest in St Clare's! :) ).

Also sounds like it is a good thing that we have been spared the Tracey Beaker series on Australian tv. I have heard a lot of UK parents complaining about that. I think kids are probably less likely to imitate behaviour from something they read as opposed to something they watch. My daughter's favourite Jacqueline Wilson book is one called Candyfloss which has a much more well behaved (and less troubled) heroine. I think books like Tracey Beaker and Bad Girls can be helpful though in teaching kids that some of the kids at school who behave badly may be doing this because of other things that have happened in their lives.
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Anna Moss »

Boy do these type of topics come in handy!!!
Yesterday I went to a book signing and MET Jacqueline Wilson :D Yaay!
She was a really, really lovely kind lady. She gave us a talk and talked all about her childhood. She had a very lovely one, and she was always daydreaming, imagining she would be an author one day; ironically what I do every single minute of maths lesson just sitting there and inventing stories, and my maths teacher wonders why one earth half my sums are missing! :lol:
After that, We formed a very long queue of 200 people - and luckily, oh so luckily, I was near the front - as I came early. I was so nervous I was worried I'd faint. What would I say to her?? I love her books a lot, in my head she is second down From Enid Blyton, which comes a definite first. I was called in, with my new book - her teen autobiography- 'My secret Diary' and also an article that at school we had to write a virtual interview on someone whom we admire. I desparately wanted the interview signed; How lovely it would be to see her name written on my article! When my name was called, I was terrified, as I said.
"Hello." She beamed.
"Hi." I breathed, scared.
"Pull your act together! Look what an opportunity this is!" Came a voice in my head.
I straightened up.
"Hi. I'm Anna. I was just um, wondering if you'd sign this article we had to write about a person we admire. I, um, chose you and It was put in the school year book. Please, could you sign it?" I said, smiling confidently.
She seemed very chuffed and wrote beautifully: Jacqueline Wilson - This is a brilliant interview!" And on the other book she put 'To Anna, My secret Diary, love, Jacqueline Wilson xx' And in her talk, she mentioned she loved Enid Blyton too! I came out with a big grin ob my face, contented. I am now inspired utterly to slave at getting published now. I read her autobiography I bought in a night, by torchlight and finished it. I had to keep switching the torchlight on and off whenever mum or dad came past the door, as it was about one in the morning! It was just so absorbing I could not put it down (like most of the time I get stuck in a good read) and had to finish it.I found it comforting that she said she was absolutely useless at everything - but the one thing she knew and was happy to say confidently, was that she could write. And she said it helped her through everything. I, much agreeing - am absolutely rubbish at P.E, Art, Math, Everything - apart from English.
I found it funny that I also had a similair experience- In Primary her English teacher loved her writing, and she always read aloud, and in Secondary school her teacher just did not approve of her style of writing, and would put red lines all over the page. Same here! Funny thing because she said in the talk that if the teacher, Miss. Peirce was still alive, she would probably get J.W's published book and still draw red lines all over it! :lol:
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

What a great post - I really enjoyed reading such a chatty, informative account of your meeting with Jacqueline Wilson, Anna. Love Jacqueline Wilson's comment about the red lines!

Anita
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by auscatherine »

How exciting, Anna! Thanks for sharing that. I am interested to know more about what she said about Enid Blyton in her talk.
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Ming »

Looks like you had a nice time, Anna. Any pictures?
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Anna Moss »

Thanks for your comments! :D
Yes, Ming, I got a couple of photos! Would you like me to post them? I will upload them soon to my computer anyways.
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Eddie Muir »

I also enjoyed reading the account of your meeting with Jacqueline Wilson, Anna, which I found both articulate and informative. I look forward to seeing the photos taken on your big day. :D
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Re: Jacqueline Wilson

Post by Philip Mannering »

Great report, Anna! Very humorous. :lol:

I would like to see the pictures.
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