If I were going to write a sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved A Little Princess, I wouldn't necessarily write it about Ermengarde. Ermengarde, the "fat child who did not look as if she were in the least clever," never interested me much.

But Hilary McKay's Wishing for Tomorrow (Hodder, Fall 2009 in the UK) begins with Ermengarde's thirteenth birthday. After I heard this (at the Guardian books blog, of course), I reread A Little Princess, for the first time in many years. McKay's choice of Ermengarde makes more sense to me now, and I think McKay--author of the Casson Family books, all five of which I read in February--will make her rather less dull than she once seemed.

Now, if one were going to write a sequel to The Secret Garden, unnecessary as it may (also) seem, who would it be about?