Jacqueline Wilson Announces New Tracy Beaker Book That Sees Our Heroine as a Struggling Single Mum

Jacqueline Wilson is one of Britain’s most celebrated authors and is known for her excellent children’s books, which aren’t afraid to tackle difficult themes such as adoption, divorce, and mental illness. It has been announced that one of her most popular characters, Tracy Beaker, is set to return after more than a decade.

The new story will follow a grown up Tracy who is now a single Mum struggling to make ends meet in London. Wilson stated that she was inspired to return to the character after seeing mothers holding copies of the Tracy Beaker books they read as children. The first book in the series was published 27 years ago and followed Tracy as she grew up in a care home that was known by Tracy and her friends as ‘the dumping ground’. Now Tracy is a mother and is struggling to raise her own challenging nine-year-old.

Speaking to the Observer, Wilson said: “It’s stimulating to think about how people develop as they get older. Tracy has been a character that’s haunted me. She’s the sort of person who sticks in your mind.

“When I realised just how long ago it was since I wrote the first Tracy Beaker book, I thought: if we were in real time, Tracy herself would be in her 30s. And I’ve always thought that, even though Tracy had lots of problems in her life and a pretty rubbish mum who was never there for her, Tracy herself would be a good mum, no matter what.”

The new book is set to be released in October and will be told from the perspective of Jess, Tracy’s daughter. The book is aimed at children from ages 7 to 11, but will no doubt also be of interest to adult readers who grew up with Tracy. Wilson has been one of the world’s most beloved children’s author for decades and has written over 100 books and sold over 40 million novels in the UK alone. We look forward to catching up with Tracy Beaker and seeing how she’s changed now she herself is a mother.