Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. She is now one of Britain’s bestselling and most beloved children’s authors. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather. More than forty million copies of her books have been sold.

Jacqueline Wilson | Waterstones Jacqueline Wilson | Waterstones

The book will pose certain questions. What sort of life was on offer in a mother and baby home of the 1960s? How will the birth of the child be handled? And what prejudices will be faced by Laura and the other young mothers? Will Laura wish to keep her baby? If so will she be encouraged or even allowed to do so? Of course once the pregnancy is known no more is heard of Léon. Laura’s parents are outraged. She has betrayed the moral standards of the family. There is no question of Laura giving birth at home. Instead her parents send her to live for the remainder of her pregnancy and to give birth at a mother and baby home called Heathcote House, where Wilson unfolds the rest of her narrative.

Laura's mother decides to travel with her to Heathcote House despite how angry she is with her because she realises just how young and frightened Laura is in that moment. Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nina falls out with Laura over the smallest slight and isn't above playing emotional mindgames with her. But she's also an incredibly loyal friend and buys Laura things without expecting anything in return. She also keeps Laura's secret about being pregnant and later visits her and Heathcote House when no-one else ever has. Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted with Little Richard, who is a sweet and cheerful kid who tries to cheer his older siblings up when they're unhappy. Nina does seem to find him annoying at times, while Laura wishes that she was her little brother. year-old Laura comes from a proud working-class family. Young for her age, Laura hasn’t had any experience of boys until she befriends glamorous, wealthy Nina, the daughter of two doctors. Laura is incredibly flattered by Nina’s attention, but aware she lives in what’s known as the “Shanty Town”, while Nina has everything she could possibly wish for, and kissing experience to boot. The dynamics between the two girls is incredibly realistic, perfectly capturing the differences between them. This book is aimed at older readers than Jacqueline Wilson’s usual target audience so do beat that in mind.

Baby Love - Jacqueline Wilson - Google Books Baby Love - Jacqueline Wilson - Google Books

Baby Love was everything I hoped for and more. While Jaqueline tells quite a horrific story it is done with beauty and care. The connection you feel with all of the characters is almost immediate and you can't help but feel your own heart break throughout the book. As always Jaqueline has this innate ability to weave an uncomfortable topic into a story that can be understood and felt by all. It's 1960 and Laura is a fourteen year old girl who is just trying to be a normal teenager despite her overprotective mother. Naive and unprepared for the adult world but desperate to prove that she's no longer a little girl, Laura ends up falling pregnant during a confusing sexual encounter with an older boy. Her parents are horrified and send her away to Heathcote House, a special home for young mothers, so she can have her child in secret and then have them adopted. Laura has other ideas and is determined to keep her daughter no matter what anyone else might say. I found the time Laura spent in the house of expectant mothers okay, it felt a bit like reading about boarding school but also dealing with the realities of parents who had shamed them and boys who had let them down. Laura herself does grow as a character when she thinks about the expectation placed on her vs Leon, but that is briefly stated and then never mentioned again really. The book ends up focusing on the bond between mothers and babies, and whilst I didn’t fully believe that Laura had the capacity for some of the realisations she had, I do think that could just be my scepticism. She lived in a place where there wasn’t much hope and perhaps, she developed much more than I’ve given her grace for. The ending was sweet and surprisingly something I saw coming. However, it was good for Laura and I think Wilson did a great job of showing other not so great endings for other women in the book for us to believe that Laura’s could be one of the good ones. As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children's Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children's Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame.Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million! I find JW’s writing so easy to fall into, I am always immersed in the world and the characters, I definitely felt all the emotions. Also the ending! It could have gone either way and I was so anxious throughout the book to see what would happen. Yes it was in an easy to read format but the writing was highly emotive and the plot was gut wrenching Belinda is a sweet girl who dreams of raising her son with her boyfriend in the bar that her father owns but reality hits her hard when she learns her boyfriend hasn't been faithful to her and then she's forced into giving her son up for adoption. Skipping School: Laura skips her lessons at Heathcote House a few times, though she notes that the teachers tend to turn a blind eye to it if one of the girls and her baby are leaving that day.

Baby Love by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads Baby Love by Jacqueline Wilson | Goodreads

Cosmetic Catastrophe: Laura puts on mascara and rouge when going to the movies with Nina and Daniel, and initially struggles with making it look right. Nina then bluntly points out that it's weird she put on make up when they'll be sat in the dark. Abusive Parents: Laura's mother slaps her a couple of times, even if she's immediately apologetic about it. Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award.Be Careful What You Wish For: Laura doesn't know what she wants out of life, but she would like to be famous enough to be featured in newspapers. She is, but only because she became pregnant and gave birth at just fourteen years old. This generation was always remembered as so ‘stiff upper lip’ and trying always to do the ‘decent’ thing but it made me question, decent for who? Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments This stands alone as a great fiction book and should not be categories only as a young adult book in my opinion .