Beaker's Back!

Exclusive

Interview

Dame Jacqueline Wilson is arguably Britain’s favourite contemporary children’s author. She has over one hundred published books to her name, most of which deal with the often troubling and unvarnished realities of being a real-life child or parent.

First published in 1991, Tracy Beaker quickly became Jacqueline’s most well-known character. Now, over a decade after her last literary appearance, the fiery, former foster-kid is back in new book My Mum Tracy Beaker, and while she’s now mature and mother to Jess, she’s still the same Tracy readers know and love.

Families Magazine is lucky enough to have secured an exclusive interview with Dame Jacqueline Wilson in which our readers and their children ask her some of their most burning questions about her new book and her life as a writer.

Why do you think Tracy is one of your most popular characters? Harbinder, age 7, Croydon

I think because she's naughty! She has reason for her bad behaviour, of course, and she's naughty but she's not spiteful, she's funny. I think she's a character that children would like as a friend - I'm not sure about adults, I think a little of her as a child goes a long way!

How have you made the grown-up Tracy as appealing to children as Tracy, the child? Lily’s mum, Leeds

I’ve kept her, not exactly naughty, but mischievous. She's quite surprising - she might suddenly do something a bit mad, or a bit silly. I think being a mum has slightly changed her because she's a very loving, caring mum.

Is Tracy’s daughter the same or different to Tracy? Olivia, age 8, Aylesbury

They certainly look alike, but Jess is a quieter girl, partly because she has had a much easier, more loving, caring upbringing than Tracy herself had. Jess is probably more studious, and more of a bookworm, but when push comes to shove Jess

can certainly stand up for herself too.

Did you and your illustrator, Nick Sharratt, disagree at all about how Tracy and her daughter should be drawn? Rosie, age 9, Twickenham

I mostly leave it to him, and certainly I think he has done Jess wonderfully. He suggested that Jess might wear glasses, which I thought was a very clever touch because it gives them that little bit of difference, and also Jess is a total bookworm and it just looks right for her to be wearing her little glasses. I was very pleased with that addition.

What’s been the highlight for you of being the Children’s Laureate? Emma’s mum, Portsmouth

It gave me a chance to speak to lots of children and teachers and librarians, and the particular thing I wanted to promote was reading aloud to children. Because right from when they are one year old, any child likes to sit on a lap and hear the simplest of stories, and I also suggested that even when your child has learned to read, sometimes it’s fun to read aloud a book that they might not necessarily tackle themselves because it's a bit difficult to get into, or the vocabulary is quite hard, but they would love to listen to the story. If they are doing colouring, or building something, or just petting the dog or whatever, or at bedtime, children do still like to be read to aloud.

Your books depict real children’s real lives and challenges in a way that few others do – how do you get inside the heads of your characters?

Lizzie’s mum, Glasgow

Bizarrely, I can remember very vividly what it is like to be a child. I mean, ask me what happened or how I felt about something a couple of years ago and my mind is a complete blank, but ask me what I was worried about when I was nine, say, and I remember entirely. It's just a happy trick of nature that I can take myself back.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers, young or old? Amaya’s mum, Harrow

I always suggest aspiring writers read lots to enrich their imagination and increase their vocabulary and try and get into a regular writing habit. Maybe keep a diary - just so you learn to write even when you don't feel like it!

When did you first become a writer? Emily, age 10, Sevenoaks

Well, by the time I was fifteen I had written what was - at least in length - a full book. It wasn't very good though! It was about two sisters, Margot was about fifteen, the narrator, and the sister was about eighteen. They had a car and went on a drive through France and Spain and got boyfriends! It wasn't the most inspiring work!

How do you select names for your characters? Chatterbook Group, Ringwood Library, Dorset

I like to try and have slightly unusual names, and if they are pertinent to the story that pleases me - for my identical twins in my book Double Act, I had them called Ruby and Garnet because they are both red jewel stones. For The Illustrated Mum, the mother Marigold has a great passion for tattoos and has called her girls the rather outlandish names of Star and Dolphin, simply because they are very popular tattoo icons. With Tracy I wanted a quirky, bouncy modern name - and with Hetty Feather, Hetty is an old-fashioned name and Feather because she's light as a feather!

OUT NOW

My Mum Tracy Beaker by Dame Jacqueline Wilson, published by Doubleday

4 Families Dorset familiesonline.co.uk