Book Review: The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
 
Review by Rachel Century

I first read The Story of Tracy Beaker when I was a child, and then came back to it years later after I started working at Live Unlimited. Reading it again as an adult — and through the lens of working with care‑experienced young people — made it land very differently. So much of it felt more real, and in places, more heartbreaking than I’d remembered.

 

Jacqueline Wilson has said she was inspired to create Tracy after seeing a series of newspaper adverts asking for foster carers. Those adverts made her think about the children who weren’t placed — the ones still waiting in children’s homes — and what that experience might feel like from a child’s point of view. It’s also worth noting that there are at least six children’s homes in Barnet alone.

 

For children especially, Tracy Beaker is a really accessible introduction to what being in care can be like. It touches on unsettled relationships, fear of rejection, and the ways children protect themselves. At the same time, it’s important to say that every experience of care is different. While there can be shared themes, Tracy Beaker is just one story, and it’s a fictional one — not a universal experience.

 

A lot of people will know Tracy through the TV series, which ran for years and is still available on BBC iPlayer. Those adaptations helped bring stories about care into ordinary family living rooms.

 

If, like me, you get attached to Tracy (which is hard not to), there are sequels too — including The Dare Game and Starring Tracy Beaker. I’ve read those as well, and they’re a must if you want to know what happens next.

 

Tracy also reappears as an adult in later books, most notably My Mum Tracy Beaker  and We Are the Beaker Girls. I haven’t read those yet — but they’re firmly on my list.