Some children find Jacqueline Wilson at eight and basically move in.
I was one of those kids. I devoured the entire catalogue and loved sharing the books with my students when I was teaching.
Tracy Beaker. Hetty Feather. Sleepovers. They’ve stood the test of time and kids still tear through them today.
She’s written over 100 books, so the supply lasts a long time. But every shelf runs out eventually (sigh). Then you’re left with a JW-shaped hole (I remember it all too well) and a child who says no to everything else.
If you’re after books like Jacqueline Wilson, it helps to pin down what makes her books hers.
Real kids with real problems. A chatty first-person voice, like the character is filling you in at the school gates. And honest about the hard life stuff without ever tipping into hopeless. That’s the checklist for every pick below, all pulled from our real-life books shelf.
(And if your child has flat-out refused everything that isn’t JW, you’re not alone. We’ve written about when your child only reads one author too.)
The best books like Jacqueline Wilson
A Boy Called Hope by Lara Williamson
A Boy Called Hope
Dan Hope keeps a list deep inside his head of things he wants to come true. Some of it is silly. He wants his sister, Ninja Grace, to go to university at the North Pole and only come back once a year.
He wants his dog to stop eating the planets and throwing them up on the carpet. He’d also like to help Sherlock Holmes solve a mystery (a zombie one, ideally).
Then there’s the big one. He wants his dad, who left and is now a local TV presenter, to love him.
Dan tells the whole story himself and he’s funny about nearly everything, including the things that aren’t funny at all. If your child loved Tracy Beaker for exactly that reason, start here.
Great for readers aged 9+.
Heroes Like Us: Two Stories by Onjali Q. Raúf
Heroes Like Us: Two Stories
If The Boy at the Back of the Class has already been read to bits in your house, this is the one to reach for next. Two stories in one book, both from the same world.
The first brings back Ahmet, the refugee boy who became famous for standing up for kids like him. He and his friends have been invited to tea with the Queen herself. Then an old enemy interrupts the journey, and getting to the palace on time suddenly needs a very clever plan.
And if your child somehow hasn’t met Ahmet yet, the original won the Blue Peter Book Award, so you’re on safe ground.
The second story belongs to Nelson, who goes to the food bank with his mum and sister every Thursday. Someone is stealing from its shelves, and Nelson reckons a supermarket stake-out is the way to catch them.
One for the JW reader who likes stories about kids dealing with the real world, age 9 and up.
Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Bill’s New Frock
Bill Simpson wakes up one morning to find he’s a girl. Worse, his mum makes him wear a frilly pink dress to school. How on earth is he going to survive a whole day like this?
The whole book is that one school day. And bit by bit, Bill finds out that everything just seems to be different for girls. Who gets picked, who gets told off, what counts as playing nicely.
It’s funny with a message, which is classic Anne Fine. She used to be Children’s Laureate, and this is the book teachers have been reading aloud for thirty years. Expect strong opinions about fairness at the dinner table afterwards.
It’s also short enough for an eight-year-old to get through in a few nights, so it suits the younger end of the JW crowd.
Some Sunny Day by Adam Baron
Some Sunny Day
It’s lockdown, and Cymbeline Igloo is BORED. Bored of home learning. Bored of not being able to DO anything. Then, to top it off, his mum accidentally gives away his favourite football shirt.
When Mrs Stebbings, the school cook everyone loves, is taken into hospital, the virus suddenly feels much closer to home. So Cym starts a project about her childhood in the Second World War. And exploring the place where her street once stood, he finds a tent, a strange girl wearing HIS shirt, and a mystery that changes everything.
This one starts funny and ends properly moving. The book’s own blurb pitches it at fans of Wonder, and that’s about right. Save it for the older end, age 10 and up, and don’t be surprised if they want to talk about it afterwards.
Authors like Jacqueline Wilson
If your child would rather adopt a new author than hunt for single titles, the writers above are the place to start.
Lara Williamson and Adam Baron for funny-sad stories told by the child. Onjali Q. Raúf for kids taking on the real world. Anne Fine for school, fairness and family chaos.
And two more names worth knowing.
Jo Cotterill writes the kind of books JW readers recognise instantly. In Jelly, an eleven-year-old who is the life and soul of the classroom laughs off the put-downs about her weight, then writes her real worries in a private notebook. Her mum’s new boyfriend is the first person to spot that she’s playing a part.
Cath Howe’s Not My Fault follows sisters Maya and Rose, who haven’t spoken since the accident. Then they’re sent on the same week-long school trip, and there’s nowhere left to hide from each other.
Either would slot straight onto a JW shelf without anyone noticing the swap.
If it’s Hetty Feather they love
Sometimes the answer to “what next” is sideways rather than away.
If your child is specifically after books like Hetty Feather (Victorian London, hard times, a girl with a plan), the honest answer is that nobody does it better than Jacqueline Wilson herself.
Clover Moon by Jacqueline Wilson
Clover Moon
Clover Moon lives in poverty-stricken Victorian London, where her imagination is her best escape from a life of struggle.
But suddenly everything she loved about the place she calls home is gone. Then she hears about somewhere she could run to. All she needs is the courage, and the chance, to break free.
Hetty’s spiritual sister. Same era, same hard times, same girl plotting her way out.
And if it’s strictly more Hetty they’re after, Hetty Feather: Diamond and Hetty Feather: Little Stars are a great choice. The full shelf is on our Jacqueline Wilson author page.
One more for the family-chaos fans
If it was the messy households they loved best in JW (the Illustrated Mum end of the shelf), Crummy Mummy and Me by Anne Fine is worth adding to the pile. Minna is the only sensible one in her house, which is hard work when your mum has royal-blue hair and a punk boyfriend called Crusher Maggot. One for age 10 and up.
Just a little note from me to say that Little Reads is built for kids who already love reading. If yours is still finding their feet, a phonics-led app will serve you better.