Put characters in unfamiliar places with Jacqueline Wilson

Invite one of the UK’s best-known children’s writers into your classroom and motivate pupils to consider how characters transform when they’re transported into unfamiliar worlds.

In this episode of Author In Your Classroom, Jacqueline Wilson – writer of The Primrose Railway Children, Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather – reveals how she reworks well-loved characters by placing them in new and unexpected settings. Reflecting on her reimagining of E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children, she explores how setting influences character development, mood and storyline.

This sequence of lessons helps pupils generate narrative ideas by beginning with characters they already recognise and enjoy.

Selected clips from the podcast are recommended at key points in the unit to introduce each phase of learning.

Teaching overview

Across five sessions, pupils begin by exploring characters they already know and enjoy, discussing favourite figures from books and considering how familiar characters can inspire entirely new narratives. They then examine how characters can be placed in unfamiliar settings, looking at how Jacqueline Wilson moves modern children into an Edwardian context.

As the sequence progresses, pupils focus on bringing new places to life, studying how setting can be conveyed through sensory detail, expanded noun phrases and dialogue. They use their chosen characters and settings to generate ideas about what might happen next, allowing plot to emerge naturally rather than over-planning the ending. Finally, pupils write their own stories, with opportunities to edit and refine their work.