Jacky Daydream

by Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson, Britain’s Children’s Laureate, takes a look back at her own childhood in this captivating story of friendships, loneliness, books, toys, parents and much more. With photographs and new illustrations by Nick Sharratt, this book will delight all of Jacky’s fans — and be a treat for new readers too.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction, Biography, Middle Grade, Autobiography, Memoir, Audiobook

344 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2007

About the author

Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, but spent most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling in countless Woolworths’ exercise books as she grew up. As a teenager she started work for a magazine publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which she was told was named after her!) before turning to writing novels full-time.

One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Since then Jacqueline has been on countless awards shortlists and has gone on to win many awards. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.

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.

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!

In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson.

Reviews

[Shannon Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! The book runs through the first eleven years of Jacqueline Wilson's life and a little about her parents and grandparents. A must read for all fans.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true Jacqueline Wilson story. I Have only read one of her other books, but I think I can still say that this book is very true to her fictional style. JW really can write for children. She knows what they want and need and how to present it. Easy and entertraining. 100% child friendly.

Even thou I'm not a child anymore (ie a bit too old for this book) I really enjoyed the book. JW just writed in a fun way. All thou at some points i as an adult reader of course really felt that I was not part of the audience she is actaully writing for. But I really feel it workr perfectly for elementary school children. JW has really got emphaty, symphaty for her readers.

Her childhood wasn't that unordinary, but that's probably the point. Her goal is to write about ordinary things. But for children of today her childhood in the 50s might actually seem a bit exotic. But still JW makes sure that any 2000s kid can relate to what she is writing.

JW talks to children, but she doesn't talk down to them. She wants to involve them and includes her authorship in the book by relating every chapter to an episode in some of her fictional books. She shows how there is a connection between her real life and her fictional books. She lets the children in on her writing process. All this in a 100% child friendly way.

As an adult reader I am of course longing for a follow up. What happened next? Because the story of Jacqueline Wilson of course doesn't end when she finishes primary school and knows she will be an author some day. I would really like to know about the adult years of this great author, but that is of course not what this book is about. It is a whole other story and it could of course not be written in a child friendly way, because children want to read about children, not adults. And in JW's case her childhood really is the most relevant part of her life, since that's where she gets her inspiration for her books.

All in all I really understand why Jacqueline Wilson is the most borrowed author in the libraries of Britain.

[Hymerka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ця книжка, може, й не літературний шедевр, але мені вона сподобалася. Це маленька, "тиха" автобіографія про звичайну дівчинку свого часу, без бозна-яких драматичних подій, але цікава поглядом на те, як змінилося життя дітей за останні 50-60 років.

Джаклін Вілсон — авторка дитячих книжок, шалено популярних на батьківщині, у Великій Британії, чимало з них виходило й українською, але тут не здобули аж такої слави, як вдома. Я й сама читала добрий десяток її книжечок. Її стиль визначає легкість викладу гармонійно поєднана з важкими темами, темами, про донедавна не було прийнято обоворювати з дітьми, як то психічні хвороби, фізичні вади, злидні, аб'юз, смерть. На жаль, як би нам не хотілося, ми не можемо захистити дітей від усього цього, і тому Джаклін Вілсон робить своєю героїнею дівчинку, в якої, наприклад, сестричка має вади розвитку, і розповідає про стигму з цим пов'язану, і описує, як от саме ця персонажка подолала цю стигму. Діти, які читають книжки цієї авторки, бачать на сторінках когось схожого на них і з такими ж серйозними проблемами і те, що є шляхи виходу з них, а це безцінно.

Та повернемося до автобіографії. "Мрійниця Джекі" розповідає нам про дитячі роки майбутньої авторки, починаючи від моменту знайомства її батьків і закінчуючи літніми канікулами перед середньою школою. Кожен з маленьких розділів присвячений окремій темі і закінчується цитатою із художньої книжки Вілсон, де вона так чи інак використала описаний у розділі досвід. Вілсон народилася у грудні 1945-ого, тож її перші роки припали на нелегкі часи, але були й діти яким доводилося куди важче. Скажімо, її найліпша шкільна подружка в 11 мусила дбати про лежачу маму, яка вмирала від раку. На обідній перерві вона бігала додому, щоб зводити маму туалет і подати їй ліки і воду. Як це можна було повісити на таку маленьку дитину, я собі не уявляю. Ця ж дівчинка на наступний день після смерті мами складала шкільний іспит — і склала. Або ще історія про однокласницю Джекі, яка чомусь перестала ходити до школи, а тоді дітям повідомили, що вона померла. Шок, який пережили діти, годі описати, бо доти ніхто з них не задумувався, що хтось їнього віку може померти.

Насправді не всі історії такі похмурі, є й про веселі дитячі ігри, дивацьких вчителів і навіть celebrity crush на дівчинку-акторку. Тут немає захопливого наскрізьного сюжету, це просто хмаринки спогадів, але маленькими порціями, так, як я їх читала, мені вони гарно зайшли.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this one because of the fact that I could never say the title correctly! It would always come out as "Dacky Jaydream" hahaha. I liked this book when I was younger, but I don't remember being wowed by it!

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Jacqueline Wilson’s life. I found the details interesting as I have read a lot of her books. This is best read by children in Year 6 and over as it might burst the bubbles of younger children!

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored this book as a child. Saw parts of myself in the author and it meant that I no longer felt quite so alone and odd - there were other dreamy bookworm types out there, girls terrible at maths, girls teased by teachers. Loved it and still do.

[Cordelia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacky Daydream by Jacqueline Wilson was a fun and interesting autobiography to read. I learned a lot about Jacqueline Wilsons childhood and her love for books. Jacqueline Wilson is one of my favourite authors so it was fun and fascinating to read about her childhood and early life instead of her amazing books she writes. I liked all of her friends at school i especially loved the characters of Christine and Eileen they were very shy girls and Jacqueline was good friends with them. My favourite parts was when Jacqueline was playing with all her dolls and when her family went on holidays together they went to sunny places.This autobiography is for any age to read even when you have grown up loving and reading Jacqueline Wilson you can still read this book and enjoy it. It is an enjoyment to read. Jacqueline Wilson is a very inspirational person to all of us she shows us that we can always follow our dreams and make them come true.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so interesting! Read this book totally on a whim. Was going to sell it but when I was looking through the books it just jumped out at me. So I picked it up and a few days later I was done.
As a child Jacqueline Wilson was one of my favourite authors. I believe I bought this book at a signing. It was really insightful to learn about her past, and the time she grew up in, and all about her family and schooling and friends. I really loved figuring out her hobbies, and especially all of the little questions asked at the end of each chapter relating to one of her books. Seeing the inspirations of her books, and how she first decided she wanted to be an author. The thing that really made the book for me though was the photos throughout of her growing up, her family and her friends. It was so nice being able to put faces to the names in her autobiography. First autobiography, and I'm pleased I did get around to reading this one before I said good-bye.

[Anya Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is sadly not my thing disappointing as for I love jaqueline Wilson's books

[17zakariat100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very good it's about the authors life. I enjoyed it a lot and i would recommend. I would recommend it to all ages. It was very interesting.

[Alice Sipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very lovely autobiography of Jacqueline Wilson’s life. She had written it very well and it was very fun to read. This book is definitely a must read for any Jacqueline Wilson fans.

[e.c.h.a · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't be a writer now if I hadn't been a reader.

Sebuah pernyataan yang diungkapkan oleh Jacqueline Wilson di buku ini. Jacky, nama kecil Jac, menghabiskan masa kanaknya dengan membaca banyak buku. Dan di usia 9 tahun, Jacky sudah menulis ceritanya sendiri. Dan di suatu tempat bernama Bournemouth, Jacky berangan-angan menjadi penulis terkenal.

Jacky yang senang membaca, Jacky yang suka dengan boneka, Jacky yang sangat sayang dengan neneknya, Jacky yang tidak terlalu seia sekata dengan orang tuanya....terdengar familiar? yupe, tokoh-tokoh di buku Jacky hampir semuanya mengalami hal yang sama....Jacky banyak terinspirasi dari kehidupannya sendiri dalam menulis buku-bukunya.

[Faith Fawcett · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐ 5

I genuinely have never loved a book so much. As an author who has wanted nothing more than to write books since I was 4, it was so lovely to see all of the parallels between Jacqueline and myself. I felt much like an outsider growing up and so seeing that I was doing all these things she did too felt so special. Jacqueline is such a lovely writer with so much talent and I hope I can follow in her footsteps one day too!

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think that this book is ok it is about jacqueline wilson life and about how she became a writer it's alright but in the beginning quite boring but in the middle good. overall i would give this book 7/10

[Alsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacqueline is one of my favorite authors. It's wonderful getting an insight into Jacqueline's life before she became a bestselling author.

I really liked it. Awesome read. :)

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we follow the life of Jacqueline, her house, family, holidays, school etc. It is a non fiction story about her life and what her childhood was like.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I remember loving Jacqueline Wilson and so I thought reading about her life from an adult's perspective would be amazing. However for me I was just left disappointed, the book is obviously meant for children (I mean why wouldn't it be, she is a children's author) but I just found that it didn't go into enough detail for it to be enjoyable. She touched on so many different aspects of her life, it was nice to get these insights however I would have liked a lot more detail about specifics.

It is only a short book (as I said it is aimed at children) and the text is quite large therefore you could probably get through this in one sitting. For me though I did find it quite slow to get through, it was a struggle as the topics were so vague that just as you were getting into one it would switch. I did find it quite boring really (a word I never thought I would use to describe a Jacqueline Wilson book!), it would have been so much better if there were less topics and greater depth. I would certainly appreciate it if she did decide to create one for adults.

For me though this was a little bit slow, I wanted so much more information about her life and was just given little snippets which is great for children but not if you're genuinely interested and want to see what her childhood was like. I think if you're a teen then you would enjoy this however as an adult (and yes I need to admit that I am now an adult) it just isn't that much fun even if you are a massive fan. Therefore I would definitely say be wary going into this book, it is short and you can probably get through it quite quickly however it may just miss the mark for some of us who are probably a little older than the intended demographic.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst I did love this book and learning about Jacqueline Wilson's life, there are a few things that I didn't enjoy so much. For example, the guess which of these characters had some relation to the chapter, I just mentioned. I dont know exactly why these annoyed me sk much, but I should imagine that fans that grew up with the JW books that helped them become aware to the different types of families out there, why children bullied other children, relationships between friends and families, eating disorders and fostering and adoption of children but not the newer books, I feel they were the next generation of JW fans and I found as I got older, I struggled to go back after I'd been given complex issues in older books to think about. So this could be why. I was solely just interested in JW's story and not the promotion of her other works or quizzes. Apart from that I loved seeing lil Jacky in her pram or hearing about her parents and the time she grew up in, it was very refreshing.

[Emsal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, not my most favourite read of Wilson. It was a quick read and probably only took me about 4 hours in total. However, I found myself wishing it would end... I'd love to know more about Wilson and her life. All the nitty gritty and struggle. I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it, for me. It felt very glazed over and pretty rainbows. I do realise that this book is aimed at children, I guess I just wanted more! Perhaps, in the future, she will write an adult autobiography for her adult readers? I suppose that she has many, as like with me, they would have grown up reading her novels! I feel like there was a missed opportunity here. I fully understand why but I'm still disappointed.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacqueline Wilson is my favourite author of all time. I read the vast majority of her books growing up, and they still provide me with comfort when I occasionally re-read them as a grown adult. However, I haven’t read all of her books, and Jacky Daydream, an autobiography of her childhood, is one of them. Although it’s simplified as it’s aimed at children, I still found it a really interesting and compelling read about what life was like growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. I found the chapters really engaging, especially about her school days, as well as her favourite books. I’d highly recommend this book as it’s very informative and interesting.

[Chloe Booth-Dobson · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️💫

Synopsis:
Jacqueline takes a look back at her own childhood and teenage years in this captivating story of friendships, loneliness, books, family life and much more. She explores her past with the same warmth and lightness of touch that make her novels so special. Best of all, she reveals how she was always determined to be a writer; from the very first story she wrote, it was clear that this little girl had a very vivid imagination! But who would've guessed that she would grow up to be the mega-bestselling, award-winning Jacqueline Wilson?

Thoughts:
I owned this book as a child and I hauled it because when I bought it I didn’t realise it was nonfiction but as an adult I decided to pick it up because I wanted to learn about the life of my favourite childhood author. I enjoyed learning about the life of Jacqueline Wilson and think that the incorporation of her novels and characters into her own story’s as amazing! However, this book just wasn’t for me. I struggled to get through this and it was very saddening because I really wanted to love it. I think that the issue is that I wanted to know more about her and more details about her life being an adult as well as a child but I do understand that I probably am not the target audience for this non-fiction and appreciate that other people especially younger people will definitely enjoy this!

Recommend? ✅
Reread? ❌

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished this book and had a great trip down memory lane. I had this book as a child and loved it then because I loved Jacqueline Wilson’s books.

I find her life story so interesting and you can see her and many characters of her life in her own writing. If I had it my way, I’d have this book twice as long with far more detail, although when writing for children I suppose that isn’t always possible.

[Hattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So it’s on me for not realising this was aimed at her usual age group, but I wanna know what happened the rest of her life! Got a Lottie bored of the ridiculous detail she goes into on little things from her childhood, tho impressed that she remembers so well!
The audio read by the author is always especially good for a biography, and I’m glad to say she sang the songs where appropriate
So interesting read all round but I would like to know more

[Books and a Brew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this and I’m not exactly the target audience since I’m 38, but it was nice to read about Jacqueline Wilson’s childhood and very interesting to read a memoir designed for children!

While I enjoyed it, I suppose I wanted more. I wanted to know who JW was when she became a teen and a young woman. I want to know about her first marriage and her first book deal. I guess the problem with this story is it felt a bit unfinished. I do enjoy her prose though.

[Millie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this when I was younger and to be honest it never really lived up to my expectations and still doesn’t. However it still is a good read and it was interesting to learn so much about Jacqueline’s earlier life. I think I was more expecting more of her later life like her marriage and daughter which is only touched on within the epilogue. It would have also been good to hear more about how she progressed into writing.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook of this book read by Jacqueline Wilson herself, and I loved it. I never read this book when I was younger so it was a refreshing and nice and easy book to listen to while I got on with things. It was also very interesting to find out more about the author who wrote so many of my favourite childhood books. I would definitely recommend reading it.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and relatively quick look at Wilson's first 11 years. This ties in her real life experience to those of characters in her books, probably aimed at under 13s. Part of me wishes she'd aimed this memoir at adults as I can see younger children getting a bit bored. I'll certainly read her teen memoir at some point.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable story except for the ending of each chapter which was a shameless plug for Jacqueline Wilson's other books. This disrupted the flow of the story. Maybe I am just too old for it! Otherwise enjoyable trip down memory lane.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely my favourite jacqueline wilson, if only because i can recall every wonderful description: from the tortore of the eleven plus, to the various dolls she has, to trips to the seaside, every chapter in this book is just so dear to me

[lysinabook · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was so sweet to pull this off my shelf and read one of my favourite children’s author’s autobiography. I felt nostalgic all the way through, though I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t as enthralled as I was reading it at 10. JW still rocks, though

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Jacqueline Wilson's fiction growing up, but I found this overly twee, and quite repetitive. Perhaps this is more of a 2 star read, but I loved the fact that Wilson narrated it; she has a delightful enthusiasm.