From the beloved children’s author of Hetty Feather, Tracy Beaker and Rose Rivers. Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent. Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and fourteen-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family. She struggles to get along with her other workers, who think she’s snobby and stuck up. But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory’s beautiful, dignified owner. The best thing about Mrs Roberts? She’s a suffragette! Opal’s world is opened to Mrs Pankhurst, and the fight to give women the right to vote. And when Opal meets Morgan, Mrs Roberts’ handsome son , and heir to Fairy Glen- she believes she’s found her soulmate. But the First World War is about to begin, and will change Opal's life for ever. A brilliantly gripping wartime story from the bestselling, award-winning Jacqueline Wilson.

Over the last 20 years, Jacqueline Wilson has published well over 100 titles and has become firmly established in the landscape of Children's Literature. She has written for all ages, from picture books for young readers to young adult fiction and tackles a wide variety of controversial topics, such as child abuse, mental illness and bereavement. Although she has received some criticism for presenting difficult and seemingly 'adult' topics to children, she remains overwhelmingly popular among her audience and has won numerous prizes selected by children, such as the Smarties Book Prize. This collection of newly commissioned essays explores Wilson's literature from all angles. The essays cover not only the content and themes of Wilson's writing, but also her success as a publishing phenomenon and the branding of her books. Issues of gender roles and child/carer relationships are examined alongside Wilson's writing style and use of techniques such as the unreliable narrator. The book also features an interview with Jacqueline Wilson herself, where she discusses the challenges of writing social realism for young readers and how her writing has changed over her lengthy career.

We are fascinated by text and we are fascinated by reading. Is this because we are in a time of textual change? Given that young people always seem to be in the vanguard of technological change, questions about what and how they read are the subject of intense debate. Children as Readers in Children’s Literature explores these questions by looking at the literature that is written for children and young people to see what it tells us about them as readers. The contributors to this book are a group of distinguished children’s literature scholars, literacy and media specialists who contemplate the multiple images of children as readers and how they reflect the power and purpose of texts and literacy. Contributors to this wide-ranging text consider: How books shape the readers we become Cognitive and affective responses to representation of books and reading The relationship between love-stories and reading as a cultural activity Reading as ‘Protection and Enlightenment’ Picturebooks as stage sets for acts of reading Readers’ perceptions of a writer This portrayal of books and reading also reveals adults’ beliefs about childhood and literacy and how they are changing. It is a theme of crucial significance in the shaping of future generations of readers given these beliefs influence not only ideas about the teaching of literature but also about the role of digital technologies. This text is a must-read for any individual interested in the importance of keeping literature alive through reading.

Meet Ellie and her best friends Nadine and Magda, three teenage girls just starting Year Nine with a lot on their minds - mainly boys! Told in the bright, sparky and totally realistic voice of Ellie, Girls in Love is a funny, frank and revealing look at their friendships, problems and heartaches that older fans of bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson will adore.

The Jacqueline Wilson Christmas Cracker is packed with brilliant Christmas stories, including a brand-new tale from Jacqueline, and classic favourite Starring Tracy Beaker, in which Jacqueline's most famous heroine gets the lead part in her Christmas play! There are tasty Christmas recipes, perfect present tips, and fun facts all about Christmas. Plus, there's a special letter from Jacqueline herself, so you can find out all about her own Christmas memories and traditions! Merry Christmas from Jacqueline Wilson!

There is something quite magical about forming a connection to a book: the way in which the words on the page can conjure feelings of excitement, fun, joy, laughter or tears, channeling the part of our being that fundamentally makes us human. The journey that children take as they travel towards becoming a competent and confident reader can be a long, winding and complex road. This book helps teachers understand how to build a quality reading rich curriculum that supports the needs of all the children in their classroom. Starting with a section on choosing texts, the book goes on to explore a variety of essential teaching approaches from a read aloud programme, to drama and storytelling, art and illustration. This is a practical resource that provides teachers and schools ideas to support the embedding of text experience and deliver a reading rich curriculum that leads to higher student attainment and working at greater depth.

Clover Moon’s imagination is her best escape from a life of hardship in poverty-stricken Victorian London. When tragedy plunges her into a world of grief, Clover realizes that everything she loved about the place she called home is gone. Clover hears of a place she could run to, but where will she find the courage – and the chance – to break free? And could leaving her family be just what she needs to find a place that really feels like home? Introducing a brilliant and brave heroine from the wonderful world of the bestselling and award-winning Jacqueline Wilson.

The London suburbs have, for more than two hundred and fifty years, fired the creative literary imagination: whether this is Samuel Johnson hiding away in bucolic preindustrial Streatham, Italo Svevo cheering on Charlton Athletic Football Club down at The Valley, or Angela Carter hymning the joyful “wrongness” of living south-of-the-river in Brixton. From Richmond to Rainham, Cockfosters to Croydon, this sweeping literary tour of the thirty-two London Boroughs describes how writers, from the seventeenth century on, have responded to and fictionally reimagined London’s suburbs. It introduces us to the great suburban novels, such as Hanif Kureishi’s Bromley-set The Buddha of Suburbia, Lawrence Durrell’s The Black Book, and Zadie Smith’s NW. It also reveals the lesser-known short stories, diaries, poems, local guides, travelogues, memoirs, and biographies, which together show how these communities have long been closely observed, keenly remembered, and brilliantly imagined.

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 hand-made 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. The only person she can talk to is her kindly, young - and handsome - art teacher, Rax. They quickly bond, and Prue feels more and more drawn to him. As her feelings grow stronger, she begins to realise that he might feel the same way about her. But nothing could ever happen between them - could it?

A heart-warming tale of unconventional families and unconditional love; the perfect read for Jacqueline Wilson fans, young and old(er). Shortlisted in the UK Author Category in the National Book Awards 2018! One of The Observer's Best Children's Books of 2018! _____ Jacqueline Wilson's bestselling, ultra famous and TOTALLY BRILLIANT Tracy Beaker is BACK!! 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? Jacqueline Wilson is one of the most loved authors for a reason. Her characters never needed a cape, or a special power to be a hero to generations of children; just huge imaginations, a bit of fierceness and a big heart. And there is no hero fiercer or more iconic than Tracy. My Mum Tracy Beaker is a fantastic new story, reuniting readers with a much-loved old friend (and some old enemies. . .) Just like old times, it’s packed full of illustrations from Nick Sharratt. _____ Praise for Tracy Beaker: ‘Wilson can still step effortlessly into the mind of a nine year old, and her chatty prose will sweep you along’ – The Daily Telegraph ‘This warm-hearted story about the importance of family and friends is classic Jacqueline Wilson’ – First News ‘[A] cosy woolly jumper of a book about wish fulfilment and its alternatives’ – The Observer