The Story of Tracy Beaker

When I heard that The Story of Tracy Beaker was on the list of Youth Literature, the first thing I thought was “isn’t that a TV series?” I didn’t know that it was a book too. Being familiar with the TV series made me very excited about the book, so I ordered it in the book store. Once I got the book, I got very eager to read; the cover is very colourful and gets your attention. I think the cover shapes a rather accurate image of the book and the writing style; it is very playful and funny. The language used is not difficult and rather easy to read, which helps to read it quite fast.

I would recommend this book for children between the ages of 10 to 12 years old, because the vocabulary is not too difficult it might also be suitable for younger children. The book has been made more fun for younger children by way of a lot of illustrations. The story is also being told by a 10-year-old, which would help them relate to the situation if they are somewhat of the same age. I think older children would view it as being too childish, as they want to be seen as being very mature. This is also noticeable in music preferences; most children aged 14 to 18 dislike music such as Disney because they think they have outgrown it, whilst they start listening to it again later on because they see the deeper meaning and realise it isn’t just childish. As now I can see and understand why Tracy acts the way she does, but at the age of 16 I would’ve thought it was a kids’ book.

The book starts out with Tracy filling out answers about herself; this helps the reader to form an image of what the main character is like. The way the questions are being answered directly shows what kind of person Tracy is and the way she thinks.

I really liked the fact that the book actually helps you to understand Tracy and is being told from a children’s perspective. The book is very honest and the sometimes butch way of telling stories makes it very entertaining. On the other hand, the story being told also had its downsides; the reader only knows what Tracy knows. It frustrated me that I didn’t know what had happened to Tracy’s parents, however, in class discussion it was mentioned that this might make the reader understand more of what and how Tracy felt.
I also thought it was very sad that Peter left to a foster home, I really felt bad for Tracy. But with everything that happens in the book that might be sad, also makes it a realistic view of life.

During teaching, The Story of Tracy Beaker can be used in various ways, this has been made easier to use it for this purpose because in the back of the book is a list of the characters and it also has a quiz in the back of which I think could be used during class.