Jacqueline Wilson: 'I wanted to write about children who weren’t top of the class'

Jacqueline Wilson grew up reading Enid Blyton but writes about children whose lives are less than perfect. Her relatable storylines have gone on to captivate generations of young readers, with her books selling over 40m copies, writes Helen O’Callaghan

Jacqueline Wilson: "I wanted to show the 90% of children who have calm, loving homes, who quite enjoy school, that sometimes kids who are a bit ‘weird’, who behave differently, have a reason for being this way." Pic: James Jordan

GROWING up on a council estate in Surrey after the Second World War, novelist Jacqueline Wilson couldn’t have guessed she’d write some of the most enduring stories in children’s literature, in 115 books that have sold 40m copies, and that she’d create some of the best-loved characters, such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather.

“Books available to me in the 1950s were mostly Enid Blyton types,” says Wilson.