As a young visitor at an adult party, I was bored. To Jean, I also owe a moment of inspiration for my own career in children's books.

She had got the details from her own grandchildren, and was just checking that I thought they were both right and appropriate for the contemporary children's book. It was something that she cared about strongly.įor Three's Company, her last book for teenagers, we had a conversation about contemporary attitudes to first sexual experiences - the 'whens' and 'wheres'. Hal reflected both her socialist convictions and her ability to keep in touch with teenagers. The story of the growing friendship between a Jamaican girl and a white boy, set on a wasteland, against a grim London background, won the newly established Other Award as the best book of the year for its accurate portrayal of multicultural Britain. The View-Finder, set on Parliament Hill, was a particular favourite, as the place she described and the place I knew were excitingly the same, while the adventure that Jean set there seemed both exotic and plausible.Įarly in my working life, Jean wrote Hal, one of the first books for teenagers which looked at the multi-cultural society that Britain had become. Julia Eccleshare writes: As Jean MacGibbon (obituary, October 30) was a family friend, I was brought up on her children's books, which were memorable for their authenticity of place, character and family interaction.

Hal by Jean MacGibbon