I do enjoy my job," she tells me more than once, a statement with which no child who has ever encountered her would be inclined to disagree. Wilson is adept at spreading herself around, but this, you soon realise, is a skill born of the fact that Britain's biggest-selling children's author – 30m copies and rising – would meet every single one of her fans in person if only it were possible. Room of my own: in the show’s reconstruction of her bedroom. Photograph: National Centre for Children's Books Wilson can be compared with her contemporary, Anne Fine, particularly in the ability to empathise with both the child’s and the adult’s point of view, and in showing that no-one, child or adult, is wholly ‘good’ or wholly ‘bad’. Both these writers depict the inner workings of their child (or teenage) characters’ minds with sensitivity and understanding, and make it clear when a child’s needs are not being met. Yet many of the adult characters are also shown sympathetically, or at least ambivalently, even when their behaviour is at fault. The Illustrated Mum (1999) is told from the point of view of 10-year-old Dolphin, who lives with her 13-year old sister, Star, and their mother Marigold (the title derives from Marigold’s abundant tattoos). Throughout the novel, the question of whether or not Marigold is an ‘unfit mother’ is raised again and again, yet Wilson shows that there is no clear dividing line between ‘fit’ and ‘unfit’. Marigold is endearing and affectionate, but she is infuriatingly irresponsible, and assumes the role of child rather than adult. This forces her daughters to take on the role of parent; Star is responsible and scolding, while Dolphin comforts and reassures: ‘ “What should I do?” [Marigold] whispered to me. “Star didn’t really mean it,” I said’.

i realy like your books especialy the story of tracy beaker. i would love to meet you leonnie -x- xx Wilson got the idea for Tracy Beaker after seeing ads for foster carers in local news-papers, most of which were accompanied by a photograph of a child. "I thought: how must it feel to be advertised like this? What if no one notices you, or someone else in your children's home gets lots of people coming forward and you don't? A close friend worked in social services and she told me that children in care get given a scrapbook to fill in, and then I had it: this was how I would start the book. Tracy is a difficult girl, and she messes around, and she writes things in the margin, and she doesn't always tell the truth. I found it lovely to write Tracy once I had her voice; she introduces children to the idea of the unreliable narrator." She has stated that from an early age she was determined to deal with "real" issues that affect children, and not to write Enid Blyton-style stories, although she greatly admired them. hi im a giant fan!actually a humungas one!im your number 1 fan!im 10 years old. im reading best friends right now but its so sad but im still gonna read on!your number 1 fan lucy:) Even thou I'm not a child anymore (ie a bit too old for this book) I really enjoyed the book. JW just writed in a fun way. All thou at some points i as an adult reader of course really felt that I was not part of the audience she is actaully writing for. But I really feel it workr perfectly for elementary school children. JW has really got emphaty, symphaty for her readers.

Late primary and early secondary children might also enjoy Michael Morpurgo's Singing For Mrs Pettigrew which talks about the writing process from an autobiographical point of view and Roald Dahl's Boy about his own childhood. Older children would like David Almond's Counting Stars - more stories with an autobiographical twist. You might enjoy Strictly Ballroom: Tales from the Dancefloor by Diana Melly. Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain's bestselling and most beloved children's authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold. Nevertheless, the marriage lasted for almost 40 years (they were divorced in 2004). "A lot of the time, we got on OK, and we had our gorgeous daughter, Emma, who is so special. When it ended, it took me very much by surprise. It was classic: he'd been having an affair, and I didn't know. But it also came at the right time. Our daughter had grown up and by then I was earning a reasonable amount. I knew I could support myself. So I threw myself into my job, trudging all over the country and keeping busy. Getting older doesn't have much going for it, but you do think: 'Well, this is me now,' and you can surprise yourself." Book 3 encourages children to move beyond simple understanding and recall to look for more complex meanings. It includes: I think tracy is really good becouse i like watching it and reading it at the momment i am reading the dare game by Jaquline wilson....

Her childhood wasn't that unordinary, but that's probably the point. Her goal is to write about ordinary things. But for children of today her childhood in the 50s might actually seem a bit exotic. But still JW makes sure that any 2000s kid can relate to what she is writing. As an adult reader I am of course longing for a follow up. What happened next? Because the story of Jacqueline Wilson of course doesn't end when she finishes primary school and knows she will be an author some day. I would really like to know about the adult years of this great author, but that is of course not what this book is about. It is a whole other story and it could of course not be written in a child friendly way, because children want to read about children, not adults. And in JW's case her childhood really is the most relevant part of her life, since that's where she gets her inspiration for her books. In this book we follow the life of Jacqueline, her house, family, holidays, school etc. It is a non fiction story about her life and what her childhood was like. There is not much that Jacqueline Wilson hasn't done. She has sold over 20 million copies of her books in the UK alone, been on countless shortlists and won many awards, received an OBE for her services to children's literary in schools and is the children's laureate 2005-2007.When the course finished, she began looking for jobs in the small ads of the London Evening Standard, and it was there that she saw the three words that would change her life: WANTED – TEENAGE WRITERS. "With extraordinary confidence," she says, "I wrote a humorous article about what it's like to go to your first dance, and how embarrassing it is if no one is interested in you, and all the little ploys you could use to pretend you were enjoying yourself, and sent it off to DC Thomson. I remember exactly how much I was paid for it: three guineas. I didn't have a bank account, and my father had to cash the cheque for me." Encouraged, she now began to bombard the company with more articles, and eventually was asked if she wouldn't like to come up to Scotland to work for it. "I thought this would be my one opportunity, so off I went. I was going to be working on an as-yet-unnamed teenage magazine, but I'd also get experience on other titles: Red Letter, Annabel. On Thomson's part, it was a shrewd move. I was paid a weekly salary; they no longer had to pay for all the articles I wrote." She also gives a rather uncomfortable account of her constantly warring parents, Biddy and Harry. The book reveals that she failed the 11-plus the first time she sat the exams, as she had a terrible cold. She passed it a second time. hi i love your books there the best !!! ive read all of them and they are fantastic i love the book which is called cookie it is one of my best ones!!!! hope you write more and more books!!!!! my favourite character is probably Dixie from Diamond girls. She handles things in the nicest manner. She arrived on the sleeper from London, and headed to the Church of Scotland Girls' Hostel that would be her new home, only to discover there had been a misunderstanding over her booking. "It was completely full: bedrooms, cubicles, dormitories. But when I looked as though I was about to burst into tears, the matron took pity on me and gave me the linen cupboard. There was a camp bed, and she moved some of the sheets and towels so I had a place to put my things. I was there for three months, and it was wonderful. It was the only warm room in the hostel, which meant that the other girls wanted to be my friend whether they liked me or not; we would all squeeze up together."

Jacqueline, I absoloutly love your books! where do you get allyour ideas from? ive wrote a story but its no way near your ability. my favourite book is candyfloss and my favourite character is jo out of the lottie project. Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945 and spent her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames, where she still lives today as a full-time writer. I love jaqueline wilson books!!!! the rules!!!infact im reading one right now!!!! i have read ...the story of tracy beakerdouble actsecretsthe lottie projectbest friendslove lessonsclean break ....AND LOADS MORE !!! MORE!!! JW talks to children, but she doesn't talk down to them. She wants to involve them and includes her authorship in the book by relating every chapter to an episode in some of her fictional books. She shows how there is a connection between her real life and her fictional books. She lets the children in on her writing process. All this in a 100% child friendly way. Daydreams and Diaries: The Story of Jacqueline Wilson is at the V&A Museum of Childhood from 5 April to 2 November ( museumofchildhood.org.uk )Jacqueline is also a great reader, and has amassed over 20,000 books, along with her famous collection of silver rings. i have loved tracy beaker since it has come out it is part of my childhood when ever i start reading or watching tracy beaker i can never stop