The Story of Tracy Beaker

Story

Tracy Beaker lives in a Children’s Home. She wants a real home one day, preferably with her mum who she hopes will come to find her soon. She tells her own story in her own distinctive voice and as she says it’s ‘the most incredible, dynamic, heart-rending story.

Why we chose it

A favourite with readers from the moment it was published, hot-headed, impulsive Tracy Beaker has become a star and is as popular today as she was when she first appeared.

Jacqueline Wilson writes about very real contemporary children and contemporary issues. The Story of Tracy Beaker broke new ground in its portrayal of a looked after child and its message that not everyone has a mum and a dad and a family home. Tracy Beaker made her way onto television in 2002 and continued her adventures in several hugely successful series.

Where it came from

Jacqueline Wilson wanted to be a writer from the age of 6. An avid reader as a child and teenager she was aware of the absence of working class children in books written for children. Her stories redress that imbalance and reflect the world that real children actually live in.

Where it went next

The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award. Wilson wrote two sequels The Dare Game and Starring Tracy Beaker. Recently she published two further stories about a grown up Tracy, My Mum Tracey Beaker and We are the Beaker Girls.

A hugely successful BBC television series based on the story started in 2002 and continued beyond the book running for five series with new stories about Tracy and the other children in the home. Tracy came back to the BBC in 2010 in Tracy Beaker Returns and in 2012 the story of the children’s home continued without Tracy in The Dumping Ground.

Associated stories

Jacqueline Wilson has written over 100 books for children. Her books show the reality of children’s lives, the contemporary problems and difficulties that they can face. Favourites include, Double Act, The Illustrated Mum, Dustbin Baby, The Suitcase Kid, Lola Rose, The Mum Minder, The Bed and Breakfast Star, The Lottie Project, Vicky Angel, The Diamond Girls and The Butterfly Club.

More recently she has also written historical novels, Hetty Feather about a Victorian foundling, Dancing the Charleston set in the 1920s and Wave Me Goodbye about a second World War evacuee.