Wilson's writing style is warm and despite the heavy subject matter there are lots of charming and humorous moments throughout the story. Met her on Saturday and she is just how she seems in her interviews which is a pleasant surprise i dont think my inner child would ever have healed if she was a bitch. At only 14, still very naive and incredibly homesick, Laura meets other girls her mother would label "Rough," or "Tarts" or "Unsuitable," who in fact are caring, and friendly. With rare exceptions such as bank holidays, the book group meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7. Polly Crosby tells ReadingZone about her novel, This Tale is Forbidden (Scholastic), a fractured fairy tale set in a dystopian world.

I’m not sure if the author is now writing for a different type of teenager than 20 years ago or if I am reading her book as a person who has experienced things I never expected 20 years ago but this did not feel like a ‘teen read’. This generation was always remembered as so ‘stiff upper lip’ and trying always to do the ‘decent’ thing but it made me question, decent for who? The fact that no one really asked her how she got pregnant, and even she couldn’t recognise that she’d been assaulted shows how much things have changed but also in some ways, stayed the same. Sheltered by her overprotective parents and eager to fit in with new best friend Nina and appear more grown up, you can see how things spiral out of control.As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children's Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children's Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. Her prefab home is undoubtedly the nicest in their area, but still is in a street dubbed ‘Shantytown’ by her Grammar School classmates. However, it was good for Laura and I think Wilson did a great job of showing other not so great endings for other women in the book for us to believe that Laura’s could be one of the good ones. This book was brilliant in that it showed the judgement and pressures of teenage pregnancy in the 1960's, then cleverly linking back to present date with an article at the end about sexual consent in the present day. The disgust and judgement piled onto her from relatives and acquaintances made me empathise with anyone who actually had to go through something like this back in the day.

There has always been something so special and comforting about her writing that I think few other authors match. The book looks at quite challenging topics such as consent, abuse and forced adoption yet does so in a way which a younger reader will be able to absorb it without being traumatised.

They were my safety blanket and I look back on them with fondness and comfort , and was eager to read one now I’m in my early 30s with the view of picking up from where I left off but my goodness this book is not a comfort blanket. Ross Welford introduces Time Travelling with a Tortoise, the sequel to Time Travelling with a Hamster, and a whole new time travel adventure! Maybe it’s because it’s in England (or maybe because it’s a Jacqueline Wilson novel), she isn’t sentenced to a life of gloom in this home for expectant mothers, it’s certainly not the best but it isn’t the tales from those horrible Irish nuns convent. Her prefab home is undoubtedly the nicest in their area, but still is in a street dubbed 'Shantytown' by her Grammar School classmates.

Jacqueline Wilson undoubtedly has a talent for writing from the point of view of children/teenagers. She has written over 100 books and is the creator of characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather.Ultimately, Jacqueline Wilson is and always has been a gem and smashing through this was just what I needed. I couldn't wait to dive back into her wonderful world and be enveloped in the warmth her books just ooze.