Ibbotson began writing with the television drama
Linda Came Today, in 1965. Ten years later, in 1975, she published her first novel,
The Great Ghost Rescue.
Ibbotson has written numerous books including
The Secret of Platform 13,
The Star of Kazan,
Journey to the River Sea,
Which Witch?,
Island of the Aunts, and
Dial-a-Ghost. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for
Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly
Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics.
Her love of Austria is evident in works such as
The Star of Kazan,
A Song For Summer &
Magic Flutes / The Reluctant Heiress. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for nature and all things natural.
Ibbotson's non-children's books have been classified both as Young Adult titles and as romances. In an interview, she referred to them as books for adults. Several of these books have been published in other languages with different titles.
Her Books for Young Adults/Adults include:
- The Secret Countess (originally published as 'A Countess Below Stairs')
- The Morning Gift
- A Company of Swans
- A Song For Summer
- Magic Flutes (in some editions published as 'The Reluctant Heiress')
The Secret of Platform 13
The similarity of "Platform 9 3/4" in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books to Ibbotson's
The Secret of Platform 13, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book, has been commented on. Amanda Craig is one example of a journalist who has written about the similarities: "Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J. K. Rowling [Nancy Stouffer], but unlike her, Ibbotson says she would 'like to shake her by the hand. I think we all borrow from each other as writers'."
See Harry Potter influences and analogues.