Jacqueline Wilson, a tireless correspondent with her legions of child fans, has more than we realised in common with Eleanor Farjeon. The author, who has just received the Children’s Books Circle’s annual Eleanor Farjeon award for being an all-round children’s books champion, was bound to be drawn to Farjeon’s 1955 Carnegie Medal-winning collection of stories, The Little Book Room. But, she explained at the awards ceremony, it’s not just the books. The story of the child who craved a leather writing case stuffed with pens and envelopes went straight to the heart of the young Miss Wilson. “I was addicted to stationery: Woolworths notebooks with brightly coloured covers and pens in every colour.”