We Are The Beaker Girls

I read My Mum Tracy Beaker last year and loved it, so was excited to see more adventures of her as an adult! This sequel isn’t as strong as the original which I think cleverly dealt with the concept of a kid in care as an adult but also the mistakes all of us make.The second book is a little more twee, focusing on Tracy and Jess settling into new lives in an lovely seaside town. The drama is that Jess befriends a runaway who has legged it from a care home. Jess spends her time looking for a new boyfriend for her mum, but nothing much really happens to her.It was an enjoyable and relaxing read as an adult and I still have a fondness for jacqueline’s wonderful descriptions and Nick Sharratt’s artwork. Any Jacqueline Wilson fan won’t be disappointed. A great way to spend a few hours.

I did enjoy this book overall, as I enjoyed reading about Jess and Tracy’s new life in Cooksea and The Dumping Ground Antique Shop with Flo. I thought it was a great change from their previous life in London, as well as it being a really lovely idea and set-up her finally deciding to settle down into a career in antiquary. I’d love to live in a place like Cooksea, being a rather relaxed, sweet little town and I liked that they’d started a business and formed a new family with Flo, who I really liked, even if it wasn’t very realistic when it first happened at the end of the last book. I loved seeing Peter return more prominently in the book this time after appearing just at the very end of the last book, with an ending the clearly suggested more was to come here, and boy was that right! I loved Tracy and Peter’s romance/relationship, I thought it was a really sweet idea with them having knewn each other since childhood and how Tracy had a very different attitude towards him now, seeing him in a totally different way, and he was of course, needless to say SOOO much nicer and decent than Sean Godfrey, who I’m glad only had a rather small appearance in this book!However, I can not deny that there were indeed several issues I had with this book, which I found rather annoying indeed. First of all: Jordan. I found it to be very much contrived the way Jess and Tracy just happen to come across a girl who was on the run from being in care, when Tracy herself had also been in care as a child. I mean what are the odds that, in a small seaside town as well, Jess and Tracy out of all people just happen to come across someone not only on the run, but also in care, just like Tracy was, with Jess forming yet another connection with someone who has been in the care system, but this time by pure chance!That and I found it really annoying, and not to mention unrealistic, the way everything just started so suddenly between them and Jordan, like her and Jess suddenly becoming best friends to the point of (foster) sisters, Tracy going to the trouble to get approved as a fosterer so she could foster Jordan, with the contrived, fairy-tale like ending of Jordan suddenly being part of their family and seemingly getting fostered by Tracy. It was just really weird and annoying the way it had just been Tracy and Jess this entire time, and suddenly there was this stranger who they had just met at the beach who they suddenly decided to let live with them and be part of their family, it even being made out that she was now officially a Beaker girl, like seriously?! Rather tacked-on and contrived I must say. I mean, if the context had been different, for instance say if they already had a prior connection with this girl, it might have made a bit more sense, but no, they just met her at the beach and all of a sudden she’s part of their family, she’s a Beaker girl! It really didn’t seem very realistic to me, considering all the true complicated aspects that are part of the care system, particularly for a book by an author who generally writes in the realist genre, with Tracy suddenly becoming a foster mother like that for a girl she’d just met, having never even thought of even becoming a foster mother before, and them all living happily ever after like that. Oh and what also really annoyed me in all this was the room that was meant for Jess the entire time all of a sudden got given to Jordan, this stranger they’d just met, with Jess saying it suddenly doesn’t matter anymore because she’s used to sharing her room with her mum anyway! I mean, they actually sacrificed Jess’s bedroom, the only other bedroom in the house for this stranger, like seriously? Is Jess really going to sleep in the same bed as her mother until she’s old enough to move out? They lived in such a small place too so this just really didn’t seem practical to me at all. It all just ended up being far too predictable like this. I feel JW makes an obvious exception for the Tracy Beaker franchise when it comes to realism, with it being her most popular, long-standing creation of course that she just wants to write for the audience’s enjoyment and sake of nostalgia rather than going down her usual realistic route.I personally found it rather annoying and patronizing as well the way because Jess was no longer friends with her former best friend from the previous book, Alice, who was from a middle-class background, she ended up becoming best friends with a much more vulnerable, disadvantaged girl, like it seems she can only be best friends with those who are disadvantaged as opposed to very advantaged. Basically it was kind of putting everything into one big label, like the way her mum was in care, Tyrone (who she was still friends with) is not in care but basically should be with the way his parents treat him, and now her new best friend is in care, like why does she always have to have multiple of her closest connections being from disadvantaged backgrounds, whereas her former best friend who was from a middle-class, wealthy background can just bog off ’cause she’s not disadvantaged so she’s not worth it anymore (okay that wasn’t the actual reason stated as to why her friendship with Alice ended but it just seemed that the message the book was sending was Jess always needs to have best friends who are disadvantaged to make it more meaningful!) I mean I appreciate that the initial theme here was about being in care as Tracy was, but I feel like it was being pushed too much here, like the ones who have been in care/from disadvantaged backgrounds are the only ones worth Jess’s friendship/attention (bar Cam of course though even then she of course is a Fosterer herself!)Jess’s friendship with Jordan felt like it was being too pushed and asserted as well, like how it was all happening too quickly while constantly emphasizing how meaningful and profound their friendship now was, being rather in-your-face at that. Besides, Jordan was 5 years older than Jess, which is probably more expected in adults, but with Jess being 10 and Jordan being 15 it just seemed a bit incongruous, especially after Jess was saying how she hoped she might get a new best friend now she was no longer best friends with Alice, but her ideal, ultimate best friend should really be someone who’s her age/closer in age to her. That being said I found it a real pity to see Jess was no longer friends with Alice, as I thought their friendship seemed like it could be a really nice one in the previous book, that Alice was really nice and they went rather nicely together. But of course they had to rid Alice out of the storyline/Jess’s life so they could focus on her new best friend Jordan and how Jordan was in care and how crazily and magically everything happened there! It made me sort of think what was the point of even featuring Marina, Alice and Ava in the last book as purely supporting roles that contributed nothing to the main plot if they were just dismissed as no longer their friends by the beginning of this book.I also couldn’t believe just how incredibly contrived and unrealistic it was with all three foster kids; Tracy, Peter and Justine who grew up in the same care home as each other coming together in this antique shop in a small seaside town all very conveniently when they were sorting out Jordan there as well, so all three of them then all had the chance at just that moment to help Jordan and give her advice. That really annoyed me at just how forced that was; all three of them just happening to be there at that very moment with each of them telling Jordan of their personal experiences and advice they had for her; it all seemed really rather corny to me too! Oh and Justine, who of course wasn’t even a local there, appearing by pure coincidence in the shop at that very second Tracy mentioned her name seemed much more like something that would happen in a sitcom as opposed to a book supposedly written in the realist genre. Oh, and to top that all off Adele also just happened to appear at Tracy’s shop as one of the producers for the Antique show, commencing yet another reunion scene with Tracy! It just seems crazy to me seeing just how small a world it actually was, as in what are the odds Tracy would by chance in this small town in this little antique shop in a seaside town end up having encounters/reunions with three of the kids she grew up with in the Dumping ground as a child, all within such a short span of time too! It’s far too coincidental and contrived to say the least.I think it would’ve worked better had this been while Jess was in school, exploring maybe her new school life as well as life in the general community of Cooksea. There are various other routes I’m sure this book could’ve gone down for a more realistic, natural plot/storyline basically, that were no doubt missed opportunities.Overall an enjoyable read I find despite all these annoying issues, as it did still keep me engaged nevertheless, and was still rather feel-good, and I still find Jess to be a rather likeable character, and loved Peter’s return and role in this, and Flo as a character too. Perhaps a 3.5, 3.7.

We are the Beaker Girls was just as boring as the first in the series. Jess was worse than ever, interfering with her mum's love life when she could get the chance. Tracy, however, has shown a lot of character development. I remember how loud and rude she could be to her care workers when she was younger. Tracy and Peter's relationship is not yet official, but i do see them taking it further if there is to be a third book in the series.

Daughter is a huge JW fan and couldn’t wait to read this new Tracey Beaker novel. She read it within a couple of days and told me it was fabulous. A must for any Tracey Beaker fans.

Bought this book for my daughter to encourage her to read. Needless to say she enjoyed it so much, she’s loaned 3 more books from the author on her school holidays.