Children’s author who wrote character-led stories – rooted in family and community – that challenged gender stereotypes
Gene Kemp, who has died aged 88, was a children’s writer who deftly chronicled the best of growing up in rural England at the end of the 20th century. She wrote character-led stories that were convincingly rooted in family and community.
She was best known for The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (1977), which hinges on a sleight of hand: based on Tyke’s boisterous exploits, readers assume that the protagonist is a boy, only to be surprised at the end to find out she is a girl, Tyke being short for Theodora Tiler. Surprisingly, despite having been in print continuously since its publication in 1977, the secret remains well enough kept for new generations of readers to be surprised – and sometimes even annoyed – by the classic title.
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