Devon Book Club discussion

There's a discussion goung on on Devon Libraries' 1facebook pages about Jaqueline wilson's book Katy, an 'update' of What Katy Did with a 'more realistic' ending and with 'more relevance' to today's children.
Personally I am appalled at such arrogance. What does anyone else think?

I'd have to read it to be sure enough to give an opinion - and probably reread all of 'Katy' too!! I have not read any of the books since my late childhood, and I dread to think I might find them awful, now, when I absolutely adored them as a child.

However, I tend to think this (ie: 'appalling arrogance') about 'biofiction' and I think I'm pretty much alone on that one. I don't mind good, well-written, honest biography (ie: the biographers actually say when they 'don't know' something, and admit when they may just be 'surmising', as Claire Tomalin does). However, I have a lot of trouble with realistic 'biofiction' novels that have people who actually once existed doing things that there is no record for, and which often seem utterly out of character. A few are wonderful, use the facts and seem to absorb the 'known' of the individual: such as Colm Toibin's 'The Master'; but others are awful.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to remember other examples of such fiction rewrites. There must be some, but my mind is blank at the moment.
Oh ... there are the 'recent' Bond books, but I have not read any, and know little of their reception.

I haven't read Wilson's version, but I have to say that given the completely different writing styles between her and Coolidge there would be little enough of the original for there to be a direct comparison - indeed I would expect it to be a different story altogether rather than a simple re-telling of an old favourite.

I think there are actually many more modern books which are a simple reworking of a classic tale than we might realise - just that in this case Jacqueline Wilson has told us all from where she draws her influence.

I recently heard a really interesting interview with JW as part of Simon Mayo's book club, (I expect it is still available to listen to via the Radio 2 website), in which she talked about the new Katy book. It may even encourage today's readers to read the original series!