Eve Bunting was born December 19, 1928 in Maghera, County Derry, Ireland. "When I was a child I lived with my parents in the small Northern Ireland town of Maghera. I guess we were rich, by the standards of the town. My father was the postmaster, and had a shop whose big glass window read: 'SLOAN E. BOLTON,/PRODUCE MERCHANT.'

"He sold potatoes and corn and seed and meal, and there were always farmers coming in and out of the post office/shop making deals that they sealed by spitting on their hands before they 'shook on it.'

"Yes, my father was important. And I was important enough that the men of the town always touched their caps to me, saying, 'Fine day, Miss Bolton,' or, more often, 'A terrible day altogether, Miss Bolton.' I'd nod my gracious, seven-year-old, eight-year-old head, and allow that indeed it...