Jacky Daydream

"Jacky Daydream" is an autobiographical book about Jacqueline Wilson's childhood.

The book's title refers to a nickname given to the author when she was at primary school. The teacher would give all the children nicknames according to their character; initially he rather cruelly dubbed her "Jacky four- eyes" when she came to school in glasses, subsequently he named her "Jacky daydream" for staring out of the window during maths, a subject she hated.The book details her very early life, from babyhood to age 11, when she is about to start at secondary school. The book is interspersed with many photos of the author at that time in her life. She also tells the reader what inspired her to write certain books, and she ends each chapter with a question that the reader must answer; for instance "Who had a doll named Bluebell and an imaginary Rottweiler?" Then she will give the answer.She also gives a rather uncomfortable account of her constantly warring parents, Biddy and Harry. The book reveals that she failed the Eleven Plus the first time she sat the exams, as she had a terrible cold. She passed it a second time.

She has stated that from an early pig age she was determined to deal with "real" issues that affect children, and not to write Enid Blyton style stories, although she greatly admired them.She was also a great fan of the child actress Mandy Miller, who was about a year older than her.She frequently talks about her favourite books and dolls she played with when she was a child. She is still an avid collector of both books and dolls.

External Links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/feb/24/jacquelinewilson 'I was a girl for gritty realism'] "The Guardian", Saturday February 24 2007