My Secret Diary Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title

  By the Same Author

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 My Diary

  Chapter 2 My Family

  Chapter 3 Clothes

  Chapter 4 Chris

  Chapter 5 Carol

  Chapter 6 Films

  Chapter 7 Books

  Chapter 8 Writing

  Chapter 9 School

  Chapter 10 Dancing

  Chapter 11 Boys Boys Boys

  Chapter 12 Cornwall

  Chapter 13 Cookie

  Join the Free online

  About the Author

  Extract: Jacky Daydream

  MY SECRET DIARY

  www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk

  Also available by Jacqueline Wilson

  Published in Corgi Pups, for beginner readers:

  THE DINOSAUR'S PACKED LUNCH

  THE MONSTER STORY-TELLER

  Published in Young Corgi, for newly confident readers:

  LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

  SLEEPOVERS

  Available from Doubleday/Corgi Yearling Books:

  BAD GIRLS

  THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR

  BEST FRIENDS

  BURIED ALIVE!

  CANDYFLOSS

  THE CAT MUMMY

  CLEAN BREAK

  CLIFFHANGER

  COOKIE

  THE DARE GAME

  THE DIAMOND GIRLS

  DOUBLE ACT

  DOUBLE ACT (PLAY EDITION)

  GLUBBSLYME

  THE ILLUSTRATED MUM

  JACKY DAYDREAM

  THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  MIDNIGHT

  THE MUM-MINDER

  MY SISTER JODIE

  SECRETS

  STARRING TRACY BEAKER

  THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER

  THE SUITCASE KID

  VICKY ANGEL

  THE WORRY WEBSITE

  Collections:

  THE JACQUELINE WILSON COLLECTION includes

  THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER and

  THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S DOUBLE-DECKER includes

  BAD GIRLS and DOUBLE ACT

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S SUPERSTARS includes

  THE SUITCASE KID and THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  Available from Doubleday/Corgi Books, for older readers:

  DUSTBIN BABY

  GIRLS IN LOVE

  GIRLS UNDER PRESSURE

  GIRLS OUT LATE

  GIRLS IN TEARS

  KISS

  LOLA ROSE

  LOVE LESSONS

  Join the official Jacqueline Wilson fan club at

  www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk

  JACQUELINE WILSON

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  ISBN 9781407048307

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  MY SECRET DIARY

  A DOUBLEDAY BOOK

  ISBN: 9781407048307

  Version 1.0

  Published in Great Britain by Doubleday,

  an imprint of Random House Children's Books

  This edition published 2009

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Text copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2009

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2009

  This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

  in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

  electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

  without the prior permission of the publishers.

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  can be found at:www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

  THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

  from the British Library.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by

  Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

  To Chris

  1

  My Diary

  I've kept a diary on and off all my life. When I was a little girl I had small Letts schoolgirl diaries. I kept them in my sock drawer, madly thinking this was an amazingly inventive hiding place. I didn't really record any riveting secrets in my blotchy biro: 'Mummy bought me a Girl comic. I think Joan of Arc is wonderful. Daddy and I went for a walk and I pretended to be a pony.'

  I didn't write at length in a proper journal until I was in my teens. I read The Diary of Anne Frank and then re-read it so many times I could quote whole passages by heart. I especially loved the parts where Anne says she wants to be a writer when she grows up. I identified so strongly with that longing. I ached for Anne because she never had the chance to fulfil her huge potential. However, she also wrote that she wanted to be remembered after her death, and of course millions around the world read her wonderful diary. I knew this perfectly well but I still somehow felt she was writing her diary just for me, confiding all her secret fears and hopes and dreams. I slept with my pink Pan paperback copy of Anne's diary under my pillow and I kept a picture of her on my bedside table. I'd sometimes whisper to her at night.

  I'd seen a photo of the actual red and white checked notebook that was Anne's first diary. I longed to own a similar notebook. Stationery was pretty dire back in the late fifties and early sixties. There was no such thing as Paperchase. I walked round and round the stationery counter in Woolworths and spent most of my pocket money on notebooks, but they weren't strong on variety. You could have shiny red sixpenny notebooks, lined inside, with strange maths details about rods and poles and perches on the back. (I never found out what they were!) Then you could have shiny blue sixpenny notebooks, etc. That was your lot.

  I was enchanted to read in Dodie Smith's novel I Capture the Castle that the heroine, Cassandra, was writing her diary in a similar sixpenny notebook. She eventually progressed to a shilling notebook. My Woolworths rarely stocked such expensive luxuries. Then, two thirds of the way through the book, Cassandra is given a two-guinea red leather manuscript book. I lusted after that fictional notebook for years.

  I told my mother, Biddy. She rolled her eyes. It could have cost two hundred guineas – both were way out of our league.

  'Could I maybe have a special journal for my Christmas present?' I begged.

  'Can't you use one of the notepads Harry brings home from work?' she asked.

  My dad, Harry, was a civil servant. One of the few perks of his job was that he had an unlimited illegal supply of notepads watermarked SO – Stationery Office. I'd drawn on these pads for years, I'd scribbled stories, I'd written letters. They were serviceable but unexciting: thin cream paper unreliably bound at the top with glue. You couldn't write a journal in one of these notepads; it would fall apart in days.

  'I need proper covers for my secret journal. I want it to be completely private,' I said.

  Bid