Review: My Mum Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson

Publication Date: October 4th 2018
Publisher: Doubleday Publishers
Source: Purchased

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Blurb: 

Tracy has returned, hand in hand with her daughter Jess, she’s ready to make her childhood dreams come true.
Jess and Tracy Beaker are the perfect team. They do everything together.
Jess thinks Tracy is the best mum ever, even when she shouts at her teachers!

Tracy has made the perfect home for Jess, leaving The Dumping Ground far behind her.Yes, their flat’s a bit mouldy. It’s only just big enough for two. And the Duke Estate is a bit scary. But it’s their happy home.

Until Sean Godfrey, Tracy’s rich boyfriend, whisks them away to his mansion, life of fast cars and celebrity stardom.Will Jess’s brilliant mum turn into a new person altogether? And will Tracy realise that her childhood dream might not be what she needs after all?

 This is the first book in years that I have been so excited about, that I purchased it on its release day! 

If you don't know, Jacqueline Wilson has played a huge part in not only helping me fall in love with books but also in my formative years as a child and teenager. When I found out that Jacqueline was revisiting the character of Tracey as an adult, I knew it was going to be one I needed to buy. 

The novel is so perfectly reminiscent of "old" Jacqueline Wilson novels while also being set in the modern day. Tracey now has a child and it is so interesting to see how this stroppy, moody girl has grown into an independent, responsible and fiercely protective mother of her child, Jess. Jess and Tracey's relationship is so lovely and caring. It is so heart warming to read about their loving relationship when usually in Wilson's novels the children are in  the mix of very volatile dysfunctional family's. 

Review: Midnight by Jacqueline Wilson

Publication Date: October 25th 2004
Publisher: Corgi
Source: Own

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Blurb: 

Violet has always been in the shadow of her mesmerizing, controlling brother Will -- by turns delightful and terrifying. Now that Will has learned a shocking secret about his own past, things seem to be getting worse. Violet retreats further into her fantasy world built around the fairy characters created by her favourite author, Casper Dream. The arrival of Jasmine, a new girl at school who immediately befriends Violet, seems like it might change Violet’s life for the better and allow her to break free of Will’s spell. But is Jasmine a true friend? 

 Jacqueline Wilson was one of the most influential authors on my reading life. Her novels lit the spark to my love for reading and I knew I needed to read this novel as one of her only "classics" that I had not yet read. 

The novel centered around Violet, a thirteen year old girl with a love for fantastical worlds and her favourite author Casper Dream. Violet was a really well written main character. Jacqueline definitely captured the odd internal conflict of being a girl at that age, of wanting to hold onto your childhood but also wanting to be an adult and feel more adult as a teenager.