Eva
Ibbotson has long been a favorite of both children
and adult readers, as well as independent booksellers. A number of her books
have been selected for the Book
Sense 76, including Which
Witch, Island
of the Aunts, and her latest novel, Journey
to the River Sea.* Her other novels include
The
Secret of Platform 13, and a number of books written for adults: A
Song for Summer, Madensky Square, A Countess Below Stairs, and A Company
of Swans.
Since she lives in England, we interviewed Ms. Ibbotson by email.
During the interview (which was conducted at a comfortable and stately pace),
she had to take a few days off to go London where her Journey to the River
Sea was awarded the Smarties Prize -- a big annual prize sponsored by a
candy company in the U.K. Ms. Ibbotson said that, while she was very happy to
receive the award, unfortunately she is not sure if anyone heard her thank-you
speech as she mistakenly held the microphone upside down during it! We had no
such problems with communication here…so without further ado, here's our interview:
BookSense.com: When did you start writing?
Eva
Ibbotson: I wrote stories and poems when I was a little girl -- in German
to begin with because we lived in Austria then, and in English when we emigrated
to Great Britain. During my school days I only wrote the essays and stories
we were set for class -- though I always enjoyed doing them. Then there was
a long gap while I took a science degree and started a family. When I was 30,
we moved to a northern industrial town and to cheer myself up I started writing
stories for magazines. Since these proved easy to sell and fitted in with child-rearing,
I went on writing for magazines till my four children were all at school.
Why did your family emigrate to Britain?
My father was offered a job in the University of Edinburgh.
But we would have had to leave soon afterwards in any case, because he was partly
Jewish. We were lucky to be émigrés rather than refugees.
What kind of science did you study? Have you ever had a chance
to use it in your books?
Physiology.
It was rather a messy science in those days, and not very useful without medicine,
and I was glad to give it up when I started my family. But I do use it sometimes
in my books...for instance, in Dial-a-Ghost,
where the sinister Dr. Fetlock has a lab for getting rid of ghosts.
Have you always written children's books?
I started as a short-story writer and I was over 40 before I
wrote my first full-length book. It was a book for children: The Great Ghost
Rescue. Since then I have written children and adult books alternately.
Which is more fun, writing children's books or writing romances?
I find it hard to say -- both are fun when things are going
well, and horrendous when they aren't.
What's the difference, for you, between writing children's
and adult's books?
There
is less difference for me than one might think. I try to imagine an actual person
I am trying to entertain, whether a child or an adult, and write directly to
them, rather than to a general reader. Children's books are easier only in the
sense that they are usually shorter. And of course, one is particularly careful
when writing for children to keep things moving and not get bogged down by sunsets
or moral "asides." With both kinds of books, it is finding the voice in which
to narrate that is the problem.
Do you read a lot of children's books?
Yes.
I am never without a children's book on my bedside table, especially the old
fashioned ones. On the night of September the 11th I read Understood
Betsy, a marvelous book by Dorothy Canfield Fisher about a little girl
going to a farm in Vermont.
Are you still writing books for adults?
I wrote my last book for adults, Song for Summer, four
years ago. Before that, I used to write books for adults and children alternately,
and I found that this worked well. But after my husband died, I found myself
turning more to children's books, and the book I'm writing now is once again
for children.
Are you fond of traveling? Are there places you've been that
you think are just the best places in the world?
I
used to like traveling better than everything, but I can't do so much of it
these days. My special places are usually warm and lush with masses of flowers;
the Canary Islands before they were spoilt, the Mediterranean...the southern
parts of Austria where you get mountains and vineyards together. There is a
little town in the Dolomites in Italy that has it all -- I always mean to write
about it.
If you had your choice when traveling, what mode of transport
would you use?
Train every time! For years I dreamt of traveling across Russia
on the Trans-Siberian Express, though I'd have settled for the Orient Express
to Turkey.
When you go to a new place, what do you do first? (Besides
check into the hotel!)
Nowadays I have a hot bath and go to bed! But when I was younger
I always went to look for water; a river, a pond, a lake, the sea...
Where have you enjoyed living most?
Probably Cambridge, (England), a beautiful university town with
a peaceful river, lovely gardens and, of course, superb libraries. Also, I met
my husband there...
Your children's books are filled with magic, witches, disappearing
islands, and other wonderful stuff.
Yes.
I wanted to write a book about funny devils that got into people and made them
do strange things. ([I was inspired by stories such as the] man accused of murdering
a South African politician who said he had swallowed a giant tapeworm who made
him do it.) But then came all those films like "The Exorcist" and I drew back.
Have you, or anyone you know, ever seen a ghost?
No, I have never seen a ghost, and nor has anyone I know. But
when I used to go and talk to children in schools and ask those who had seen
a ghost to put their hands up, I always found that at least half the class responded.
What kind of research did you do for your latest book, Journey
to the River Sea? Did your physiology background help?
I
read books, looked at pictures, watched films and videos of wildlife, talked
to travelers, and tried to learn some Portuguese. There was a lot of historical
research to do on the rubber boom, which brought the settlers to the Amazon
at the turn of the century.
I think being married to a naturalist (who kept an ant nest
under the bed when I first met him) was more important than my own physiology
background -- physiology is more about the insides of animals, not their habitat
and habits. Usually I go to the places I write about, but Manaus has changed
so much that I decided to keep it in my head.
Are you continuing to write magical books? Or are you tempted
to do more historical books like Journey to the River Sea?
I
seem to be writing another book set in the past with real characters rather
than wizards and witches. I don't quite know why this is; maybe the immense
success of Harry Potter has made me feel that one can't go much further along
that road for the time being.
If you worked in a bookshop, what would be on your staff
picks shelf?
I
would put all the books by Frances
Hodgson Burnett, Daddy
Long Legs by Jean Webster, Anne
of Green Gables, all the books by Virgina
Euwer Woolf, Skellig
by David Almond, Walk
Two Moons by Sharon Creech...and of course my own books, because I like
to eat!!!
Do you have a favorite bookshop?
There is a secondhand bookshop in Alnwick, in Northumberland,
called Barter Books. It is adapted from an old railway station and has every
book you could want, as well as an open coal fire and muffins.
Journey
to the River Sea
Search for Eva
Ibbotson's books on BookSense.com
*Journey
to the River Sea is a January/February
2002 Book Sense 76 pick
"A great adventure story set in England and Brazil that includes all the classic
elements: an orpahn heiress, repellent relatives, a stern but good-hearted governess,
and friends in unexpected palces. Yet they are woven together in fresh and delightful
ways."
- Rachel King, Little Book House of Stuyvesant Plazaz, Albany, NY
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