Exploring her early years with the same warmth and lightness of touch as her novels helps take the sting out of most of the challenging material, such as her parents' extra-marital affairs and her grandmother's difficult childhood.

Despite the problems, the optimist wins out. Jacky Daydream is far from a bleak autobiography. As with her novels, where the human spirit finds the strength to cope with adversity, so too in Wilson's own life.

We learn that Wilson dreamt of becoming a children's writer from a very early age. But what does she think now about becoming one of the most popular children's authors in the world?

"I never thought I'd become so well-known. In fact it doesn't seem real at all, " explains Wilson. "I thought if I ever got lucky enough to have a book published that I would only appeal to a small minority of children, children who were maybe odd-ones-out.

Because they're the sort of children I like to write about. So it's strange, but lovely, that so many children read my books and identify with the characters."

Tackling the grittiest of subjects in an easy-to-read style hasn't always made her popular with parents, however. "Sometimes I upset adult readers because I write from the child's point of view about parents who let them down and I can see that that might be unsettling. But on the other hand I don't want to write about children whose parents are always right and always there for them or who never lose their tempers unfairly . . .

because life isn't like that. And I think it's reassuring to children to see that your parents are human beings too."

Entering the charts in Ireland at number four, Jacky Daydream has been selling steadily or the past couple of months. But her popularity here is down to wordof-mouth and her crossover work on film and television, according to Niamh Colgan, children's buyer in Waterstones, Dublin. "She's not heavily promoted over here yet she often outsells Irish writers for this genre. Girls tend to go grow up with Jacqueline Wilson, starting with the 'Best Friends', 'Tracy Beaker' and the 'Sleepover' series, then moving on to the 'social issues'."

And Colgan agrees that despite her popularity, many parents, particularly younger mums, are wary. "The number of parents who prefer not to give this material to their children is much higher than you'd imagine and it's quite surprising when you think of the content of many of the films or TV programmes and computer games children are exposed to."

Wilson's biography also describes how times have changed, particularly for women and family life. "Things have changed but they haven't necessarily got better. I think girls take it for granted that they're as good as boys now and they're a lot more confident. But, as with every movement, sometimes things are pushed a little bit too far and I think the biggest and most worrying dilemma for most women now is if you have children, do you stay at home with them and then try and claw your way back in to your job when they go to school or do you go the 'finding the right childminder' route and go back to work as soon as possible. There's no simple solution.

"The one good thing about oldstyle family life was everybody knew their place and what was fair and what wasn't. Even though families were probably dysfunctional, everybody had a role in it, whereas now it's more challenging . . . everybody has to redefine their roles. Often children don't live with a mum and a dad and a sibling and that's that. A nuclear family can be all sorts of things and I think it's good for children to feel that you don't have to have a model family. But it does cause problems when everybody has to try and work out their own set of rules and customs."

Wilson has been credited with leading a new genre of children's books which focuses on "real stories about real children".

However, despite the issue-driven moniker, Wilson is first and foremost a writer. "I want to give children a jolly good read and to entertain them. But along the way I want them to understand a little bit more why certain children might behave in a certain way. Or, if a child is going through a hard time, it can often be comforting to read about another child in a similar situation and see how they cope."

Wilson also believes that, handled responsibly, you can write about almost everything for children these days. "I once said I wouldn't write about a teacherpupil relationship, but then I wrote Love Lessons. I might deal with subjects that people think are vaguely controversial but I do keep in mind that often quite young children read my books. So I wouldn't write anything very graphical or with a lot of domestic violence."

The only subject she does have reservations about is anorexia. "I have several anorexic girls who correspond with me regularly and they would like me to focus on the problem in more detail than in Girls Under Pressure, which touches on the first slopes of anorexia. But I feel that if you have a tendency to become anorexic, dialogue and the images help frame the story.

"She writes as children are thinking and hones in on the social situations they are interested in.

Her books are about strong female role models succeeding by working through their problems and the importance of friendship.

In the end, despite the challenges, the child has worked through something. So although Wilson doesn't write happy-ever-after stories, her books always have a happy ending."

Which is just what the writer herself learnt, as we find out in Jacky Daydream.

BOOKS FOR OLDER CHILDREN

FOR OLDER GIRLS

Many authors have followed the trend for writing real stories about real children's lives, including Irish authors Roisin Meaney ('Don't Even Think About It'), Judy May ('Blue Lavender Girl' and 'Copper Girl'), Judy Curtin ('Alice' and 'Alice Again') and Mary Arrigan ('Hard Luck'). Latest releases in this genre include: Worse Than Boys By Catherine MacPhail Girl gangs and modern teen life in Dublin Eye of The Moon By Dianne Hofmeyr Adventure set in ancient Egypt The Swan Kingdom By Zoe Marriott Teenage girl struggles with her mother's death and her father's new relationship

FOR OLDER BOYS There aren't as many issue-driven authors for this age group but many books for boys still deal with challenging situations.

Private Peaceful By Michael Murpago Action/adventure The Sliver Sword By Ian Serraillier Written over 50 years ago. Gentle book about how post-war children look after each other without adult protection Northern Lights Bumface and Doubting Thomas By Morris Gleitzman Coping with teenage issues Candy By Kevin Brooks First love and intoxication Night Rise By Anthony Horowitz Stephen King for kids (just published) A Note of Madness By Tabitha Suzuma The onset of manic depression in a teenage boy at music college Unsuitable for Younger Readers By Henry Tumour Straight-talking teenage intellectual Hector has a brain tumour he calls Henry Series of boys' books by Philip Pullman