Eve Bunting is one of the most prolific and versatile writers of children's literature today. Although she did not begin writing until she was in her forties, she has since written more than one hundred books that span the spectrum from preschool to young adult. Her young adult books address sensitive contemporary issues such as alcoholism, sexual relationships, and teen-age suicide in a way that makes the situations plausible. Frequently hidden within her story lines are covert messages of traditional morality.

Bunting was born Anne Evelyn Bolton in 1928 in Maghera, County Derry, Northern Ireland, where her parents were also born. Her father was a postmaster and merchant and was regarded as well-to-do by village standards. She was sent to boarding school in Belfast at the age of nine and there developed a lifelong love of books and reading.

She graduated from Methodist College in...