Writing Let's Go, Darby

“Why did you write Let’s Go, Darby!? Why about children in a hospital? Anything specific inspire you?"

Questions I'm often asked.

The answer's a bit roundabout, but here's the background...

I live on Toronto Island, in a community of 700 people in the 858-acre Toronto Island Park, a 12-minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. The Island has had a rich history dating back to the early 1800s, along with some grand Victorian architecture. Unfortunately, those building have all been torn down, including the Lakeside Home for Little Children, the once summer home for patients at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (the hospital that is now referred to as SickKids).

I frequently walk along a beach, past the former site of the Lakeside Home and was always curious . What was it like for children, many with chronic lifelong illnesses, to spend their summer in this idyllic place. The more I read about the Home and SickKids Hospital, the more fascinated I became with the lives of children who lived there in years past.

It eventually led me to a history book by a renowned Canadian journalist on the history of SickKids. In it, I stumbled across the story of Georgie Titus, one of the hospital’s first patients. Georgie’s trip in 1898 on a doglsled to the hospital, on his own, from his hometown 40 miles away was amazing.

So amazing, I immediately knew I had to write about it. It was an odd thing for me to think, though. A as a writer, I had never written either fiction or a children's book before. But I decided to go for it.

Writing the book may have appealed in another way. I have a son with a disability, and over the years had become all too aware how children who were sick or had disabilities were either sidelined or absent altogether from children’s literature. I wanted to change that.

Writing the book didn’t come easy. I couldn’t write a non-fiction book about Georgie because I didn’t have much to go on other than the basic outline of his journey to the hospital, and minimal information about his treatment. 

So I had to use my imagination to create characters, events and dialogue, and still stay true to the history of the time. It was a challenge because I wanted everything to be historically accurate. So I spent months at the archives at SickKids researching actual patients, the physical setting of the hospital, treatments of the day, foods they ate, games they played, hymns they sung...all to put in the book.

I loved writing the book, grew fond of my characters, and feel glad to honour the bravery and fortitude of the many child patients I wrote about.

The quote below is from the medical practitioner whose method for treating clubfoot is practiced around the world today. Georgie had clubfoot. Treatment is usually started in infancy, so Georgie's case was unusual, and more difficult to correct since he was 10 years old when he came to SickKids in 1898.