We know it’s so easy to get attached to a favourite author, and when their books are as good as Jacqueline Wilson’s, it’s no surprise that some children feel like they’ll never find anything they love as much. But we’ve got some recommendations about great stories they can try next – and we want to hear your ideas too!
Jacqueline Wilson’s books all have one delicious thing in common: readers can IMMEDIATELY step directly into someone’s else’s brain, usually a girl in challenging circumstances (although Jacqueline has written some books narrated by boys, too, notably Biscuit’s story in the brilliant Cliffhanger). That addictive first-person narrative gets many readers utterly hooked right from the get go!
Of course, as Jacqueline Wilson has written over 100 books, there are loads to choose from, enough to keep you going for about two or three years.
But eventually there comes a time, usually about the time children are leaving primary school, when they have either read all the books or – dreadful as it is to say it – very slightly outgrown their beloved author. So what can they try next?
Books for younger readers in the middle of extreme Jacqueline Wilson fandom who want to mix it up just a bit
Try Laura Dockrill’s Darcy Burdock series. The books are the perfect home from home with their sparkling first person narrative. Jen Carney’s The Accidental Diary of BUG series has humour and real life galore, including an adoptive family and two mums.
An illustrated diary-style novel in the mode of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates, with a sparky narrator who perfectly captures the voice of an upper primary age girl and her thoughts about life. A sensitive and funny story.
Clarice Bean finds family life exhausting and exasperating, and school is no better; particularly when the teacher, Mrs Wilburton, sets an ‘utterly dreary’ book project.
For children who are starting to reach the end of their Jacqueline Wilson obsession (or have read them all!)
Go for Cliff McNish’s emotional rollercoaster Going Home, which is told from the point of view of a dog called Ralph who has been living unwanted in a dogs’ home. Michael Morpurgo’s Running Wild is another totally gripping first person narrative, while Gill Lewis is an author you need to check out. These books by Gill are written in the first person, which makes it easy to immediately fall into the story: White Dolphin, Moon Bear, Scarlet Ibis and Sky Hawk.
If you’re looking for something else, try Holly Smale’s Geek Girlseries or Malorie Blackman’s fabulous Pig Heart Boy. Or you could just prolong the love – don’t forget Jacqueline Wilson’s books for slightly older readers that fans may have been a bit young for when they started, including Vicky Angel, Midnight and her suffragette story Opal Plumstead.
A young dolphin, washed up on the beach, unexpectedly brings Kara and Felix together. But the new friends must take on new challenges – finding out the truth about Kara’s missing mother, and protecting the bay when it falls under threat.
Cameron desperately needs a new heart when he is offered the opportunity to take part in a radical and controversial experiment involving the transplant of a pig’s heart.
by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
2008 9 to 12+ years
Classics
Coming-of-age
Although she loves him dearly, Violet is scared of her older brother Will, because he often taunts and teases her, and even physically hurts her.
For teenagers who never really found anything they liked as much as Jacqueline Wilson and need a kickstart to escape a reading drought
Some teenagers do go off reading completely when they’ve finished their favourite books and never seem to find a replacement. Great ideas to get back into the reading habit are Katie Kirby’s funny Lottie Brooksseries and Louise Rennison’s truly brilliant Georgia Nicolson series, starting with Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.
Or for teenagers who enjoyed Tracy Beaker and the real life issues in Jacqueline Wilson’s books, head to Patrice Lawrence’s People Like Stars and Alex Wheatle’s perfect Crongton series: Liccle Bit,Crongton Knights and Straight Outta Crongton.
Lottie Brooks is just starting secondary school and she’s just about ready to die of embarrassment – she hasn’t got a bra, her hair is totally wrong, and the whole class has started calling her Cucumber Girl. Just how cringe can one year be? A hilarious tween diary from Katie Kirby.
Welcome to the world of Georgia Nicolson – an angst-ridden teenage girl who keeps a diary to record the rollercoaster of emotions and experiences she faces every day
At school Lemar, also known as Liccle Bit due to his height, is like any teenage boy. He’s in love with a girl who barely notices him, he mucks about with his best mates and he spends a lot of time doodling in his work books. However, at home…
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Those are some of our ideas – but what about you? What do you love reading?
Let us know by messaging us on social media @BookTrust using the hashtag #WhatToReadAfter
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