But there is a consistent awareness running through Tango's Baby that, hopeless as the direct protagonists may be, there are always people who will try to help them, sometimes at great personal cost to themselves. That is my window of hope, left open, but only just. It is equally important that teachers and librarians and academics continue selecting and discarding, discussing and analysing and making comparisons, with the needs of individual children in mind. Books on difficult subjects can be difficult to write, and sometimes you may feel that an individual writer has got the balance wrong - that needs saying too, because we learn by our mistakes. Everyone connected with literature for children has a duty to our vulnerable audience.
Someone has to find the right book for the right child, at the right time.
That someone could be you. Martin Waddell, who lives in County Down, Northern Ireland, has written over 100 books for children, some under the pseudonym Catherine Sefton. Martin Waddell was a featured speaker at the 1998 ALAN Workshop in Nashville. After his talk, I asked if he would consider writing a piece for The ALAN Review. We truly appreciate his generous contribution, and the help of his publicist, Anne Leggat, of Candlewick Press.