Jacqueline Wilson: Five Children and It, and me

A long-time fan of Edith Nesmit recounts what it was like to be asked to write a sequel.

I was flattered to be asked but initially declined: I felt it would be restricting to try to write in another author’s style, especially if they were writing long ago. I did say, just to sound obliging, that I would give it some thought and that if I had any good ideas I’d get in touch. I thought of all the Puffin classics as I wandered off to make a cup of coffee – and immediately fastened on Five Children and It. I didn’t want to try to write a Nesbit sequel – and I was sure someone else had already done it years ago anyway (Helen Cresswell with her excellent The Return of the Psammead). But I had a sudden thought: what if the Psammead buried himself in some other patch of sand and stayed hidden away for a hundred years or more, and then was discovered by modern children – my sort of children? —Jacqueline Wilson: Five Children and It, and me | Books | The Guardian.