Showing results by author "Jacqueline Wilson" in All Categories

Fourteen-year-old Prue and her sister, Grace, have been educated at home by their controlling, super-strict father all their lives. Forced to wear Mum's odd handmade garments and forbidden from reading teenage magazines, they know they're very different to 'normal' girls. But when Dad has a stroke and ends up in hospital, unable to move or speak, Prue suddenly discovers what it's like to have a little freedom. Sent to a real school for the first time, Prue struggles to fit in.

When life with Jayni's violent-tempered father becomes too frightening to cope with, Jayni, her mum and her little brother Kenny are forced to escape in the middle of the night. Slipping out of the house unseen, travelling up to London by train and checking into a hotel – it's almost like playing an elaborate game. They even make up false identities to protect their secret, and Jayni becomes the glamorous-sounding Lola Rose.

Ellie's glorious romance with Russell is teetering on the rocks. Magda's lost her pet and is desperately upset (though the others didn't even know she still had a hamster!). And Nadine is fed up with the other two lecturing her about the dangers of meeting someone on the Internet. She thinks an e-mail boyfriend is wonderful! Buckets of tears are wept and hundreds of tissues sniffled into. Can the girls' friendship survive these testing times?

Nine o'clock. That's when Ellie has to be home. Her dad thinks it's not safe any later. But then the most amazing, magical thing happens. Out with her best friends Magda and Nadine, she meets a boy. And it's HER he's interested in - not drop-dead gorgeous Magda or super-cool Nadine. But will Russell stay interested in a girl who has to be home by nine?

Lily isn't home alone – but she sort of wishes she was; looking after her three younger siblings is a lot of responsibility. When Mum goes off on holiday with her new boyfriend and her stepdad fails to show up, Lily is determined to keep the family together and show they can cope without any grown-ups. But taking care of six-year-old twins, her three-year-old sister and the family's flat feels overwhelming and Lily is worried that school or social services might discover their situation and break up the family.

A fantastic stand-alone historical novel in the tradition of Hetty Feather and Wave Me Goodbye, this rich, entertaining novel will delight fans news and old. Mona and her aunt live in a little cottage on the edge of the Somerset estate, where her aunt sews wonderful dresses for the lady of the house. Mona never knew her mother or father, but Aunty has always looked after her - and Mona knows she can always talk to her mum where she lies in the village graveyard.

Starring a cast of wonderful characters, both old favourites and new, this is the fifth fabulous Hetty Feather story. Hetty Feather has begun a new chapter in her life story. Escaping from Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus with her dearest friend, Diamond, Hetty is determined to find them positions as glamorous music hall artistes. Hetty and Diamond quickly become the Little Stars of Mrs Ruby’s show, alongside many colourful acts - including an old friend from Hetty’s past, Flirty Bertie.

It’s 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can't wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan – her mum works as a showgirl, so she's not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes.

A wonderful new story starring old friends and new from the much-beloved Victorian world of Hetty Feather. Rose Rivers lives in a beautiful house with her artist father, her difficult, fragile mother and her many siblings. She has everything money can buy - beautiful dresses, horse-riding lessons, books - but she’s not satisfied. Why can’t she be sent away to a good school like her twin brother? Why can’t she learn to become a famous artist like her father or his friend Paris Walker? Why is life so unfair for people who were not born rich?

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Jacqueline Wilson's favourite character, Tracy Beaker, who lives in a children's home. Ten-year-old Tracy is smart and full of energy but more than anything she wants love. In The Story of Tracy Beaker, Tracy doesn't know where her mum lives but that doesn't stop her having long imaginary conversations with her. She's had two foster families before which haven't worked out but hopes a woman named Cam will be her next foster mum.

Diamond wasn’t always a star. Born to penniless parents who longed for a son, she was a dainty, delicate daughter – and a bitter disappointment. Discovering she has an extraordinary natural gift for acrobatics, Diamond tries to use her talent to earn a few pennies. A mysterious stranger spots her performing on the street, and makes a deal with her father. Diamond is sold and is taken to become an acrobat at Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus.

Beauty Cookson is no beauty. She's a plain, timid girl who constantly feels inferior to the super-confident, snooty girls at school. Worse than the teasing in the playground, though, is the unpredictable, hurtful criticism from her father. Beauty and her meek, sweet mother live in uneasy fear of his fierce rages, sparked whenever they break one of his fussy house rules.

When Stella is dumped at summer camp while her mum goes off on a posh honeymoon, things start badly. In the first few minutes she's mistaken for a boy and put in a room with snobby Louise and nasty Karen. Then she finds out she'll have to take dreaded swimming lessons, the one thing mum promised she wouldn't have to do. Can things get any worse?

On the face of it, Beauty is lucky. She has a mum and dad who love her, lives in a lovely house and goes to a posh girls' school. But for shy, awkward Beauty, the reality is miserable.

She isn't a beauty, and the snobby girls at school have nicknamed her Ugly. Her mum is completely downtrodden by Beauty's fierce-tempered bully of a father. Beauty would give anything for a pet, but her dad won't hear of it in case it messes up their pristine house.

Hi! I'm Charlie (DON'T call me Charlotte – ever!). History is boring, right? Wrong! The Victorians weren't all deadly dull and drippy. Lottie certainly isn't. She's eleven – like me – but she's left school and has a job as a nursery maid. Her life is really hard, just work work work, but I bet she'd know what to do about my mum's awful boyfriend and his wimpy little son. I bet she wouldn't mess it all up like I do ...

Tim is thrilled when his parents allow his best friend, Biscuits, to come on holiday to Llanpistyll, Wales, with them. He and Biscuits are having an absolutely brilliant time eating ice cream, having picnics, and making sandcastles - until a deadly, fiendish enemy in the form of the bully Prickle-Head and his sidekick, Pinch-Face, arrive, and things begin to go wrong.

Tilly can't believe it when her best friend, Matty, is asked to be a bridesmaid. In Tilly's favourite daydream, she's kitted out in the most beautiful bridesmaid dress, walking down the aisle behind a beautiful bride. The one wedding she'd really like to attend is her own mum and dad's. But as that's never going to happen, it's time for Tilly to make her own dream come true - and put her bridesmaid services up for hire....

"When my parents split up, they didn't know what to do with me....My family always lived at Mulberry Cottage. Mum, Dad, me, and Radish, my Sylvanian rabbit. But now Mum lives with Bill the Baboon and his three kids. Dad lives with Carrie and her twins. And where do I live? I live out of a suitcase. Mum wanted me to go and live with her. My dad wanted me to go and live with him. I wanted to stay at our old place, all three of us together, but that wasn't allowed."

When Laura meets a French exchange student, Leon, she is flattered by his interest in her. She's never had any sort of boyfriend before. One night, Leon walks Laura home and her life will never be the same again. Things start to change for Laura and she doesn't even know how it could have happened. When her family learns her secret, they are horrified. Sent away to save them from shame, Laura meets girls just like herself, whose families have given up on them - and they become a family for each other at the most difficult time in all their lives.

Edie is fascinated by Victorian times, and she's just desperate to be cast in the lead role of her drama club production of Oliver. When she's given a real Victorian notebook she's determined to write the best story ever, all about a girl in a workhouse. But when she starts writing, something strange happens. Edie finds herself in Victorian London. She feels the same, but everything around her is completely different to what she knows. Soon, she realises she's living the life of another Edie Trimmer—and is in danger of being sent to a real workhouse!