14/2021. An influential bestselling British children's novel about a young girl in a children's home. It became part of a series and was subsequently adapted for television. Jacqueline Wilson was later children's laureate in the UK for two years. I was too old for this book when it was first published and my friends' kids were too young for the initial Tracy Beaker fandom but it's still popular and further novels in the series, now featuring Tracy as a mum, are being released. The Story of Tracy Beaker received a further massive publicity boost in the British media this week, followed by a tsunami of online nostalgia, and I ended up persuaded to read the book with some kids. It's not my type of story but it's well-written and I can imagine the appeal for others. I'm glad it encourages young people to read and to think positively of reading as recreation. 3*

My favourite phrase: "put an entire shoal of fish fingers under the double grill". ( )

Tracy Beaker lives in a group home for foster children. She's been in and out of foster family homes, none of them sticking because of her tendencies toward violence and lying, but also because of the unfair actions of her foster parents. Told from her point of view, this is Tracy's story of how unfair life has treated her, of her heartbreaking hope that her mother will still come for her, and her slow-to-grow trust in others.
The idea is a really good one, but the execution was not great. I think it must be pretty difficult for adult writers to take on the voice of a child and make it believable, and I'm always amazed at authors who pull it off and do it well. It didn't work for Wilson here, though; she makes Tracy into a caricature of the Hurt Child Who's Acting Out, which, I think, does a disservice to the importance of the story. Maybe it works for the target audience better, though? *shrug* ( )

A funny touching portrayal of a young girl in foster care. Only she is not the typical sweet lovely child often shown in stories of this genre. She's got issues. I did think it ended rather abruptly. I felt like it ended only half way through the story. ( )

This is a good book but I have read better Jacqueline Wilson books. I liked Tracey Beaker, she is well described. But the plot wasn't great. ( )

I'm a man in his late twenties. I'm not altogether sure why I read this book, but I did find it enjoyable. I was moved by the kids in care idolizing their living parents no matter how infrequently they come to visit. There being seemingly no end to the fantasys the children construct whereby their absent mothers or fathers can remain heroes.
My wife made fun of me because I was reading a book with illustrations. :) ( )