Jacqueline Wilson: 'I treasure all the letters children send me'

I like the mock up of my childhood bedroom, a typical sparse 1950s room. It looks very modest now but I remember being thrilled to bits to have my very own room when I was six. The bed looks very small! Note the comics – I read Girl from cover to cover. I had to make do with cast-off furniture and one rickety shelf for my collection of books, but I did my best to decorate my bedroom the way I wanted. I had a pack of small china dogs trotting along the window sill, and I gave my dolls little hand-made books for entertainment while I was out at school.

I had a selection of Margaret Tarrant pictures on my wall – I particularly loved the print of the fair-haired girl lying at the edge of a cliff looking out to sea. I made up so many stories about her. I also had several photos of the child star Mandy Miller on the wall. I hero-worshipped her for years.

I kept all my treasures and drawing books and notebooks in the ugly old ottoman – and if you look inside the chest of drawers you’ll see the sort of dresses I wore when I was a child.

I love the huge selection of letters from children on the long display board. I must have received hundreds of thousands of letters over many years. Some are the standard ‘Dear Jacqueline, our teacher says we have to write to a famous person so I picked you’ or ‘Dear Jacqueline, I want to be a writer so can you give me some tips please and tell me where you get your ideas from.’ Some are hilarious: ‘How long have you been married to Roald Dahl?’ or ‘How late are you allowed to stay up at night?’ Many include children’s own stories, many closely typed pages, lovingly illustrated. There are often sad letters from children whose parents are splitting up, who don’t have a best friend, who are getting teased at school, who have just lost their special pet cat. There are letters from children who are coping with all kinds of illness, nearly always with extreme courage. There are letters with only one sentence and other letters that are twenty pages long. I treasure them all. They make me feel so loved and special – and often overwhelmed.

I used to pride myself on writing back to every single child. Long ago I used to write a proper long letter, with little drawings too. I’d generally do a cartoon Tracy Beaker saying something cheeky in a speech bubble or draw Radish the little rabbit from ‘The Suitcase Kid’. (The original Radish is also in the exhibition, rather bedraggled now, with her fur all worn away). Nowadays I couldn’t manage to write to everyone even if I stayed up all night, but I do try very hard to reply to every child who’s unhappy or ill or who’s written something quirky and appealing. This often develops into a proper penfriendship. I have been writing to many children for years. A few of those special letters are on display here in the exhibition.

I’ve written nearly a hundred books – it doesn’t seem quite real to say it, but it’s true. Children often ask me which is my favourite. It’s hard to choose, but I think I have to pick ‘Hetty Feather’, the story of a Victorian foundling. I’m known for writing very contemporary stories about modern issues, so it was a big change to write about a Victorian girl. I wrote Hetty’s story purely to please myself, but wonderfully many young people have taken her to their hearts. I think Hetty’s become even more popular than Tracy Beaker now. She’s all set to go from strength to strength, with three more books about her, a brilliant stage play opening in April, and a television series in development.

There’s a special Hetty Feather room in the exhibition, showing off Nick Sharratt’s elegant and evocative silhouettes, and a Victorian green costume exactly like the one stitched by Hetty herself. There’s a selection of nineteenth century hats that children can try on, and a special outlining device so they can create their own Victorian-style silhouettes.