Age-Gap Romance: While less of a romance and more of a brief sexual encounter, Laura is only fourteen when she has sex with the seventeen year old Leon. She also has a crush on Daniel, who is around the same age. Set in 1960, Baby Love is a story for older readers (aged 12+) about teen pregnancy, family trouble and unlikely friendships. 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.

Lea, Richard (8 February 2008). "James Patterson stamps out library competition". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 August 2008. As far as fame goes, it does give her “a bit of a buzz” if someone stops her in the street. “Particularly now, because people have grown up reading my books and recognise me and go ‘you’re part of my childhood,’ and that’s always going to be such a lovely warm feeling.” Trish, who is about 13 years Wilson’s junior, retired early but has been kept busy around their home and garden, as Wilson describes herself as “entirely undomesticated.” When Wilson became ill with heart failure about 12 years ago, and then kidney failure about three years later, Trish helped look after her and drove her to dialysis appointments. She does concede, though, that modern children would find “the idea that a woman’s place is to look after the menfolk – if you can call pixies and goblins menfolk – a bit odd.” So while Blyton’s magical world remains intact in Wilson’s version, we can expect hers to include fewer of the questionable social mores that can make some of Blyton’s work feel dated today.For her work, Wilson has won many awards including the Smarties Prize and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. The Illustrated Mum (1999) won the annual Guardian Prize, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers, [21] and the annual British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; it also made the 1999 Whitbread Awards shortlist. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award, and Girls in Tears was the Children's Book of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards. Two of her books were "Highly Commended" runners-up for the annual Carnegie Medal: The Story of Tracy Beaker (1991) and Double Act (1995). [22] [a]

I was so invested in Laura's story that I couldn't and didn't want to put this book down. I loved all the characters and how even the supporting ones were sufficiently fleshed out. I cried not just for Laura but also for all the other girls. Shame about Nina and Daniel (both of whom I really liked) but at the same time, I couldn't see how Laura and their lives would fit together again after everything. Bittersweet Ending: Laura gets to keep Kathy and moves in with her aunt Susan but she has a strained relationship with her parents, who much prefer the children she has with her husband and she never sees Nina or Daniel ever again. Laura herself also notes that while she got a happy ending, the other girls at Heathcote House didn't because they had to give up their babies with no chance of ever being reunited with them. Laura is furious that she and the other young mothers are forced to give up their children for adoption and becomes angry every time it's mentioned.

Format

The Dumping Ground: I'm... (2016–2021). A spin-off series similar to the Survival Files, but instead where the characters make videos about themselves, who they are, what they like and stuff that's happened to them in their life.

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.So how would I sun this up … honest , gut wrenching yet sweet at times , emotional and heartbreaking! One indulgence she allows herself now is her “very naughty habit” of buying special antiquarian books. “But nothing else really. Because I live in the country, there’s not much point in having elaborate fancy shoes or gorgeous dresses because you just get covered in mud.” Jacqueline Wilson". Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Retrieved 2 January 2010, From 2005 to 2007.