‘Reconstruction of the Family in the Work of Jacqueline Wilson’

The stable notion of the family unit is fast changing in contemporary culture with the high rate of divorce and the dislocation of families by external pressures. The result is a changing positioning of the child from a passive family member to one who is making independent life decisions either because of the absence of parents, or because parental judgement is dysfunctional in some way. The work of the current UK Children’s Laureate, Jacqueline Wilson focuses upon the child’s view from this perspective.

This paper examines Wilson’s re-presentation of the contemporary child and the family through such works as The Suitcase Kid (1992), The Illustrated Mum (1999) and The Lottie Project (1997).