Jill Paton Walsh

 was an "accidental" writer.  She started writing when she was home with her first child - and missing her young students.  I remember her saying something like, "I was missing the classroom and the interaction with young minds."

I met her at a children's literature conference. The late Jane Langton, a friend of mine, had told me, "Cat, you need to go to one such event. I am taking you to this one. It will be fun. You will meet people."

It was fun. I did meet people JPW was one of them. I was sitting next to her the night that ghost stories were being told - and we all kept looking backwards when we eventually scuttled off to bed. The following day a different sort of drama was being discussed. JPW talked about her reasons for writing "The Dolphin Crossing". 

It was a very different sort of book back then. Although Ian Serrailier's "The Silver Sword" had been published in 1956 and Margot Benary's book "The Ark" had been translated and published in 1953 actually putting young boys into the middle of the action was not to everyone's liking. I had bought the book for the school library - only to be told it had to be kept "in the desk" and children would need to get their parents permission to read it. 

I had to send a message home to the parents explaining what the book was about. The school was in a rough area next to the docks but I was still concerned that some parents might not want their children to read the book. In the end only one parent objected but I suspect her son found a way around that as another child was a day late returning the book. 

Ms W and her friends have borrowed JPW's books from me. They have grown out of books like The Dolphin Crossing, Fireweed and A Parcel of Patterns and into books like Goldengrove and Unleaving. The subject matter of books has expanded. Directly involving young protagonists in war and other violence and the aftermath of these things is no longer considered revolutionary. I doubt the Dolphin Crossing has the same impact now. I know Fireweed doesn't have the same impact among some young students. "They had it easy compared with the camps" - the "camps" being the refugee camps. 

But I still think those books are worthy of being read by Ms W's generation. My great nieces will soon be old enough to read these books. Unfortunately they don't live here but other children their age do and I have grown my personal library so that they will be able to read such things - if they want to. I will encourage them to do that, just as I encouraged their parents at that age. I will talk to them about meeting people like JPW and try to make them see that writers really are people, people who feel the need to say something.

Yes, there is a vast quantity of excellent literature for children now but there is also literature from the past which is worth preserving. It is worth preserving because it was special in its day - and it can still be special if introduced in a way that will make it appeal. Children still need special books.