Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
November 1, 2019/in Fiction 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by bookskeeps
BfK Rating:
BfK 239 November 2019
Reviewer: Rebecca Butler
ISBN: 978-0857535870
Price: £12.99
Publisher: Doubleday Children's Books
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 352pp
Buy the Book

We Are The Beaker Girls

Author: Jacqueline Wilson

This is the second Wilson book narrated by Tracy Beaker’s daughter Jess, aged ten. Jess and Tracy have moved home to Cooksea, a seaside town bearing an uncanny resemblance to Brighton. Tracy now runs an antique shop called The Dumping Ground, in partnership with a woman named Flo, who at one time was a minor television celebrity. The Beaker mother and daughter team face two main problems. The first is the danger than Tracy’s former boyfriend Sean Godfrey may re-enter their lives. The second is the need to identify the boy on the beach who steals people’s ice creams. What effect may this ice cream thief have on the lives of the Beakers?

The boy on the beach, it transpires, is a fugitive foster-child. This provides an opportunity for Wilson to explore in the most effective way the issues of fostering. Although fostering issues often arise on the periphery of stories for young readers, including the earlier history of Tracy herself, it is rare for fostering issues to appear (as they do here) at the centre of such narratives. Readers who have followed Tracy’s career since her debut in 1991 will have become familiar with her attitude towards teacher and figures of authority in general – a mix of detestation and fear. They may be relieved to learn that Tracy has now moderated her destructive urges. She now has a grudging respect for those who are trying to help her daughter develop.

Admirers of Dame Jacqueline will be pleased to learn that the full array of memorable characters who have appeared in earlier Beaker books do reappear in this latest offering.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/we-are-the-beaker-girls.jpg 499 359 bookskeeps http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png bookskeeps2019-11-01 14:21:002021-02-25 14:23:12We Are The Beaker Girls

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 273 July 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Debut Authors and Interrupters – the 2025 Little Rebels Award Shortlist

July 17, 2025

The School Library Association Announces Honours Lists for 2025 Awards

July 14, 2025

Margaret McDonald and her editors Alice Swan and Ama Badu win the 2025 Branford Boase Award

July 9, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Fergal in a Fix! Tiny and Teeny
Scroll to top