ABSTRACT
In chapter 1 I discussed the degree to which Wilkins’ Tooth (Witch's Business in the United States) demonstrated a compromise with a number of forms, in particular the attempt to accede to the demands of the 1970s and 1980s that children's books be more realistic. These demands did not go away, and Diana Wynne Jones responded by producing such books as The Ogre Downstairs and Dogsbody, which took on current issues such as blended families, racism, and bullying. However, in later books the ostentatious issues disappear from view. In search of a compromise with realism, Jones turned instead to technique, and to making the mundane fantastical.
