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Summary
Summary
Introducing Tracy Beaker, 10-year-old girl-wonder and the daughter of a famous Hollywood actress . . . sort of. Tracy Beaker's not exactly sure what her mother does, because Tracy has been in foster care for as long as she can remember. She has a picture of her mother, who's pretty enough to be in movies, so maybe she is. And maybe one day Tracy's mother will show up and reclaim her long-lost daughter, and together they'll have fabulous adventures. Then again, maybe she won't. In the meantime, Tracy's doing everything she can to take care of herself--even though she has to share her birthday cake with silly Petey Ingham just because they have the same birthday . . . and even though the other girls she lives with are mean and nasty and rude and horrible. Mostly. Then a journalist shows up to write a story about their orphanage, and she and Tracy strike up a special friendship. In a story written with humor and sensitivity, Tracy emerges as a spirited girl who's not quite as tough as she lets everybody think she is.
Author Notes
Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath, England on December 17, 1945. She always wanted to be a writer and as a teenager, started working as a journalist for Jackie magazine. Since becoming a full-time writer, she has written numerous novels including The Dare Game; Bad Girls; The Worry Website; Lola Rose; The Diamond Girls; Clean Break; and Hetty Feather. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such difficult topics as adoption, divorce, and mental illness. She has also won numerous awards including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award for The Illustrated Mum; the Smarties Prize, the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the Children's Book Award for Double Act; The Young Telegraph/Fully Booked Award in 1995 for The Bed and Breakfast Star; and the 2002 Blue Peter People's Choice Award for The Story of Tracy Beaker. In 2015 she made the New Zealand Best Seller List with her title The Butterfly Club.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-A first-person narrative about a bright and feisty girl. Tracy has spent most of her life in the British foster-care system, always fantasizing that her mother will come back for her. When Cam, a writer, comes to the home to do research for an article, she and Tracy connect. Not intimidated by the angry 10-year-old's tantrums and fibs, Cam exerts a positive influence on Tracy, who finally makes overtures of friendship to some of the other kids. Tracy is at times a tough character to like-she is rude, sarcastic, and unfriendly. However, perceptive readers will quickly see beneath the outrageous tales and bravado a vulnerable youngster desperate to be loved. The book ends rather abruptly, with Tracy asking Cam to be her foster parent, but readers will be glad to know a sequel is imminent. Sharratt's witty cartoonlike drawings enliven this universal tale of a child struggling to belong. Readers will root for Tracy, who never admits to tears, only to attacks of hay fever. A well-paced and involving novel in which a memorable character learns to cope better with her very real problems.-B. Allison Gray, South Country Library, Bellport, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wilson (Double Act; Bad Girls) presents an insightful portrait of 10-year-old Tracy in the girl's own words. Readers initially make her acquaintance through entries in a fill-in book entitled "My Book About Me." Her revelations are by turn caustic, funny and heartbreaking. Living in a group home for children after two unsuccessful stints in foster homes, Tracy repeatedly expresses her fervent hope and pitiable conviction that her roaming, much-idolized mother will appear to take her away. "There's not much point making friends because I expect to be moving on soon," resolves the heroine, whose tough-kid veneer is wrenchingly transparent. An aspiring author, Tracy takes solace in her autobiographical writing and her new friendship with Cam, a writer who visits the home while researching an article. Despite Tracy's passionate attempts to persuade Cam to take her in as a foster child, her fate is uncertain at the close of the novel. Yet her indomitable spirit and grit leaves little doubt that she will end up on top. Sharratt's drawings help to keep the mood light, as Wilson again shapes a convincing and memorable heroine with a snappy, fresh voice. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Ten-year-old Tracy, in and out of foster homes, finds herself back in a children's home but claims she doesn't care: ""I expect my mom will come soon anyway."" Readers will know better, however, and will easily see through Tracy's flippant, tough-talking veneer. The journal format works well, quickly and efficiently introducing the young protagonist as she fills in the blanks-her favorite things, her family, how she feels about foster care, and, finally, ""My Own Story."" Normally opposed to being told what to do, Tracy scribbles away in the assigned journal because she dreams of being a writer. A visit to the home by a journalist researching a story results in a friendship between the two writers-and the possibility of, if not a new foster parent, at least some self-esteem-boosting for Tracy. In either case, a happy ending for her story. Nick Sharratt's cartoon drawings help lighten the tone, while Jacqueline Wilson does a commendable job of providing, in a first-person narrative, a surprisingly well-rounded picture of the seemingly callous but lonely young girl. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Wilson pushes so much pain between the lines of this portrait of a foster child with the personality of a steamroller that it comes off less a lightweight tribute to human resilience than a pathos-ridden tale of children acting out as they nurse profound inner wounds. Ever ready to lash out verbally or physically, Tracy swaggers through her account of life in the group home to which her second pair of foster parents have returned her, meanwhile leaning heavily on the thin hope that her long-gone mother will return to her. Readers will easily see through all the tough talk to the vulnerability within, as she browbeats Peter, a younger housemate, while drawing on personal experience to help him cope with persistent bedwetting; passes from denial through defiance to trying for a truce after breaking archrival Justine's most prized possession (a cheap alarm clock from her father); and goes relentlessly to work on Cam, a visiting journalist, to take her as a foster child. Interspersed line drawings done in a childlike style, and letters exchanged by Tracy and Cam, fail to lift the heavy mood. By the end, Cam has still not come around-but readers may be too annoyed by Tracy's rude, aggressive character to care. (Fiction. 10-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-6. British author Wilson has stepped into the spotlight as one of the sharpest authors writing for middle-graders. This book, already published in the U.K., actually precedes some of the titles published here, and it marks Wilson's first collaboration with illustrator Nick Sharratt whose jaunty ink drawings are so much a part of books such as Double Act (1998) and Bad Girls [BKL Ja 1 & 15 01]. The young heroine here is 10-year-old Tracy Beaker, who has been in foster care since she was a baby. Tracy is sure that her mother, whom Tracy imagines is famous and quite busy, will come for her someday, but in the meantime, Tracy's trying to rope almost anyone into being her foster parent. Kids who have read Louise Rennison's Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (2000) will recognize Tracy's voice as that of a younger Georgia, bitingly funny, amusingly bitter, and at odds with the world. Tracy's heartache and the bravado she musters to cover it will be readily identifiable by readers, who will appreciate both her honesty and her wit. --Ilene Cooper
