2008-05-08 Review of an 11 year old Jacky Daydream by an 11 year old ...

As soon as I heard about the book Jacky Daydream I longed to have it - for two reasons: one - I needed a good book to read and Jacqueline Wilson has never disappointed me and two, after all the books I'd read by her based on children with problems like their parents splitting up or their best friend moving away or their pets dying, I ached to know how Jacqueline Wilson grew up: had she suffered what many of her characters had suffered?

And Jacky Daydream had all the answers to my questions; it had everything from birth to books! It told me all about how things were when Jacqueline Wilson was a child; it described her rooms and had chapters on her family, friends and teachers. It was like going through a time machine starting on the 17th December 1945 when she was born and seeing how she grew up in a flat with her parents, Biddy and Harry; and how Biddy kept her squeaky clean and their flat too, of course! And going right through to when Jacqueline Wilson and her parents went to live with her grandparents and how Hilda Ellen (her gran) told her stories of her own childhood. Poor Hilda Ellen had a very disrupted childhood, moving about a lot.

I read how Jacqueline Wilson loved dolls and got one every Christmas. I also read about her first day of school and those that followed. She made many friends and when she was 11 - like I am now - I almost cried for her poor friend, Christine's, tragic situation (her mum was dying).

Then there was Jacqueline Wilson's father, Harry, who could be sweet and gentle but could burst into fiery moods which Jacqueline Wilson hated; as well as her parents rowing.

I loved the fact that Jacqueline Wilson had imaginary friends and played imaginary games by herself and sometimes with her friends. And - of course - like any good writer, she loved books and two chapters were dedicated to her love of reading and the books she enjoyed.

At the end of each chapter Jacqueline Wilson would pose a question like:

In which of my books did one of my characters do such-and-such?

And then she would answer her question and include an extract from one of her other books and reveal some of her thoughts on that book. And I could see the connections that she had with some of her characters.

The Epilogue included some school reports and a quick review of JW's teenage years.

And a clever ending!

It must have been hard for JW to recall so much of her childhood with such colourful interest, but I think she did an excellent job of making it readable and so brought a writer I love to life, especially as she included photographs.

by Hattie Rowan, aged 11, Tabora, Tanzania