Jacqueline Wilson: 'I wanted to write about children who weren’t top of the class'

“There seemed not enough representations of children like me, kind of odd-ones-out, who didn’t live in nice houses with big gardens, whose mummy didn’t enjoy housekeeping, and whose daddy didn’t go off to a big job.”

Wilson wanted to write realistically, to tell stories from a first-person perspective. She aimed her books at nine-to-12-year-olds.

“I wanted to write about children who weren’t top of the class, happy and jolly,” Wilson says. “I wanted to write about kids with difficulties in life; not in a depressing, but in a humorous way.”

At her book events, the majority of the audience are girls, but she has some “dedicated” boy readers. “They tend to be sweet, introspective boys, who feel a little bit the odd one out, too.”

Still, Wilson feels “much safer” writing about younger girls.

“I write for up to age 11 or 12. I still know, more or less, what a girl likes. They’re very interested in friendship, how difficult it is if your best friend goes off with somebody else. Most girls are animal-mad, and I know the sorts of things they like to joke about, the things they worry about.”

Wilson says that today’s teens — who’ve “perfected the art of acting and looking cool” — are worlds apart from what she was like as a 1960s teenager.

“There’s a school near where I live. I see these girls chatting with each other; they all seem to have wonderful long hair and clear complexions. Whereas, we fussed about our spots, and our hair never seemed right. It just seemed harder.”

And yet she knows that, while they can seem confident, many modern teens grapple with mental health. “I think what a struggle it is to [maintain] that glossy appearance, to be positive, sassy, to try to get so many likes [on social media]. To me, it’d be a complete nightmare.”

While still a teenager, Wilson worked for Dundee publishing company DC Thomson, including on weekly girls’ magazine Jackie. She also wrote a mother-and-baby advice column.

“I’d never held a baby,” Wilson says. “I’d go to the local shopping centre, stop mothers with prams and ask what they were worried about and if they had tips. And I gleaned information from Dr Spock’s book.”

Life lessons for children

To write about something you know nothing about is great training for a writer, Wilson says.

Her books explore big themes, like divorce and adoption. “I wanted to show any child going through a troubling time that they weren’t alone, that other children could understand what they were going through, and that sooner or later, somehow, life would get better.”

And she had another purpose. “I wanted to show the 90% of children who have calm, loving homes, who quite enjoy school, that sometimes kids who are a bit ‘weird’, who behave differently, have a reason for being this way.

“A sense of humour is a wonderful weapon if you’re going through hard times. In the saddest time, I wanted to have some little amusing thing that’d help a child keep going. I wanted to be helpful. More than anything, I wanted to write the books I’d have liked to read as a child.”

Child psychotherapist and author Joanna Fortune points to other big themes Wilson has explored — growing up in the care system, parental mental illness — and says that Wilson’s books and characters have stood the test of time because they’re relevant.

“This age group need to see themselves reflected in the material they engage with. Books that feature same-age protagonists having similar struggles and facing self-doubt, challenge and frustration, while ultimately mastering these same feelings of tension, is both important and helpful at this stage of development,” says Fortune.

A reader’s sweet feedback

Wilson’s books help young children, but her readers help her, too. She recalls once giving her fourth talk of the day to schoolchildren and feeling exhausted, especially because she was going through a rough time. “My husband had just left me; it was horrible. I was tired, and not sleeping.

“And this little girl said her favourite book was The Suitcase Kid, about how parents splitting up affects a child; it’s sad, but ends positively. She asked, ‘Are you divorced, Jacqueline?’ It was a raw moment, and I managed to say, ‘I’m certainly separated and I might well be divorced’.

“And this girl said, ‘Well, never you mind, you’ve more time to write your stories now’. It was the sweetest thing to say, and such a help to me.”

Wilson can’t imagine navigating any life experience without having something to read to distract herself. “Any handbag has to be big enough to carry a paperback. Reading is such a joy. When I see children growing up with really loving parents and they’ve the latest computer/tablet/video game, but no books, I think well, that’s fine, but they’re missing out.”

She believes that reading helps children develop empathy. “You discover people are so different, that people think in different ways. If we can only imagine and understand someone else, it’s wonderful for connecting and growing.”

Wilson sees children scrolling through items on smart devices and believes it isn’t good for the brain. “Reading is about concentration, and concentration is a wonderful gift. If you don’t develop it as a young child, it’s very hard to concentrate when you’re older.”

And she knows children concentrate on video games. “And for a frightening amount of time, but they’re just reacting, rather than thinking slowly and peacefully and productively.”

Feed their minds 

Wilson has one daughter, Emma, whom she had when she was 21. She doesn’t have any grandchildren. “I did a lot of playing with her. I did all the lovely childhood things with her.”

She read to Emma, even during Emma’s teens. The pair might be doing household chores and Wilson would read Dickens aloud, and Emma would read aloud to her mum. “It was to have fun and to discuss things as we went along. And still today, when we meet we exchange about what we’ve been reading and what we like.”

Wilson encourages parents to do likewise with their children. “At age six, when you read relatively fluently, it’s still an awful effort to read something that might require a reading age of 10 or 12, but actually you would love that story,” she says, recalling how her teacher read to the class on Friday afternoons.

“We’d sit spellbound, even the fidgety ones.”

Reading aloud is such as simple pleasure to share with a child, she says: “It makes you close”.

Does she have advice for parents? “Love them a lot. Take an interest in what they’re doing. Have fun with them. But don’t be afraid to be cross with them if they’ve been a royal pain.

“So many parents have to work hard to make ends meet. I think parents overcompensate a bit. I’m old school.

“I would try to be kind, but I’d say ‘no, of course you can’t have another chocolate bar’ or ‘that older lady needs to sit down; of course, you have to get up and let her sit’.

“I don’t think it stands children in good stead to feel they don’t have to show politeness.”

And, finally, from a woman who has inhabited many stories, many characters, and touched thousands of young lives across decades: “Almost as important as feeding a child dinner is feeding their mind.”

• Jacqueline Wilson’s new book, ‘The Other Edie Trimmer’, published by Puffin; available from March 16.