THE ROMAN BEANFEAST by Gillian Cross. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

Davey has problems. His dad is in the Far East and the phone lines are crackly. His mum has her hands full - literally - with the toddler twins. And next door lives Molly, who is clean, organised and good at everything. Molly is in Davey's class at school, and she enjoys making him feel stupid.

The class is studying the Romans, and everyone has been asked to make something for the Roman Prize at the end of term. Davey tries hard, but every time he makes something Molly copies his idea and makes a better one. Davey tosses all his failed projects into his wardrobe - and then he has a brilliant idea! But can he keep it a secret from Molly?

This is a delightful story for children aged around seven to ten - a reissue of a book first published in 1996. The plot is satisfyingly clever, but it's the characters and the mayhem of everyday life that makes the story so entertaining. There's Davey's harassed mum doing up the baby buggy straps with one hand while holding a wriggling twin in her other arm. There's the constant messiness and zest for life of the twins (including a hilarious scene in the library). And there's Davey himself, not stupid at all, but inventive, determined - and kind-hearted. Ros Asquith's witty illustrations add to the fun.

And the reader learns a new word: onager. (Well, it was new to this reader, anyway.)

Published by Frances Lincoln, 2013.

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THE RIVER AT GREEN KNOWE, by Lucy M. Boston. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title: THE RIVER AT GREEN KNOWE

Author: Lucy M. Boston

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1959

Although I am a huge fan of low fantasy, the Green Knowe franchise had somehow passed me by. I was aware that the author, Lucy M Boston had won the carnegie medal  in the early sixties and that one of the books had been made into a film.

A few weeks ago I chanced upon a 1980 edition of THE RIVER AT GREEN KNOWE in a charity shop.  A few pages into it I was completely hooked.  It is the best of fantasy, written in a languid, poetic style that weaves a powerful spell on the reader.

The plot is very loose. Two women rent the house at Green Knowe for the summer and invite three children to share it with them: a niece, a vaguely Eastern European boy and a Chinese refugee.  Left to their own devices, the children explore the local river in a canoe, mapping the islands they encounter.

During their explorations, the most magical of which happen by moonlight, the children encounter a modern-day Robinson Crusoe, a giant who is scared of laughter and a flock of winged horses.  On a windy night, they eavesdrop on a Bronze Age initiation ceremony full of dancing, ululating men.

The underlying theme is one of displacement.  Everyone and everything is on a journey – the river, the

people, the boats, the magical creatures.  And the final message – that the greatest journey of all ends with an inevitable loss of faith and imagination is truly resonant.

Ida said, "I'm sorry, Ping. One can't do anything for grownups. They're hopeless."

Ping sighed. "I can't understand, when it's the thing they most want in the world, and it's there before their eyes, why they won't see it."

"They are often like that," said Oskar wisely. "They don't like NOW. If it's really interesting, it has to be THEN."

Hasty research on google tells me that a lot of readers where disappointed when this book was first published. It doesn’t feature the usual cast from the other books.  For me, not being familiar with those other children, this was not a hurdle. I adored the fearless Ida, the philosophical Oskar and the irrascable Ping.  I only wish Lucy M. Boston had written more adventures about them.  I would have gone along for the ride anytime.

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The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters, by Michelle Lovric: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

To begin with, an important note: this is definitely not a children's book!- though Michelle Lovric has written several books for children, at least one of which I've reviewed

on this site. If you've read any of those - a series set in an enchanting alternative Venice, beginning with The Undrowned Child - you will immediately recognise Michelle's very distinctive voice. She rejoices in all the playful possibilities of language - but the lovely words do not hide a sharp wit. Here's an example: 

Mr Rainfleury, in contrast, was in seven separate raptures about his creations. He could not be stopped from fondling their hair, and waltzing them along the top of the mantelpiece... He paid not the slightest attention to our complaints. I flinched at the steel that lined his emollient manners.

The book concerns the seven Swiney sisters from an Irish village, Harristown. Though they don't have enough to eat and live in extreme poverty, they share one extraordinary feature; all of them have hair  which grows so abundantly that, when released, it reaches the ground. Manticory, the red-haired narrator, is one day almost raped by a stranger who has a fetish about long hair. The oldest of the sisters, Darcy - dark-haired, and a very nasty piece of work - sees a way to turn this fetish to the sisters' advantage; she devises a show, in which the sisters sing and dance, and at the end, turn their backs to the audience and let down their hair.

This is the age of the Pre-Raphaelites, whose models always rejoiced in a positive cloud of  hair, and as Michelle explains in her notes, there was a sort of brotherhood of hair-worshippers. So the show goes down a storm, eventually attracting the attention of two entrepreneurs, Rainfleury and Tristan, who offer to manage the girls. What follows is a recognisable arc in these days of reality shows and celebrity worship; the girls make masses of money but see little of it themselves (except for Darcy) and have no idea how to manage it. So their rise is precipitous, but so is their fall.

The Seven Sutherland Sisters

It's a big novel in every way, with a large cast of eccentric and highly individual characters, who rejoice in a larger-than-life grasp of language and have in particular a tremendous talent for insults - the exchanges between Darcy and her arch-enemy, the Eilleen O'Reilly, are razor-sharp and full of energy. There's more than a touch of Victorian melodrama, but it's spiced with humour and wit and with a very modern take on the cult of the celebrity and the exploitation of the vulnerable. Almost unbelievably, it's based on a similar set of sisters, the Sutherlands, who were American and had a similar - though not quite as extreme - career path.

I guess you might put it in vaguely the same area as some of Joanne Harris's books, but really, I can't think of anything else like it. A rich and witty read.

(My thanks to the publishers, Bloomsbury, for sending me a copy of this book.)

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Glimpse by Kendra Leighton, Reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

I do love a good ghost story. And Glimpse by Kendra Leighton promises a lot. It's the story of Liz, a girl who has had more than her fair share of troubles in her sixteen years of life, and her battle to overcome the terrifying visions - the Glimpses - that plague her. When Liz and her father inherit The Highwayman Inn and move into its time-worn rooms, she hopes it will be a fresh start - the chance to leave the Glimpses behind and become normal. But it soon becomes obvious that Liz hasn't left anything behind her. The Glimpses have followed her and they are angrier than they have ever been.

Struggling to make sense of what is happening, Liz befriends a boy called Zachary, who tells her he can help her to understand why she is under attack and asks for her help in locating his missing girlfriend, Bess. But the Glimpses don't want her to uncover the truth and they will stop at nothing to ensure Liz stops digging around. Can Liz put the pieces of the puzzle together and help Zachary to find his lost love before the Glimpses manage to silence her forever?

Based on the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, Glimpse is part mystery, part ghost story with more than one haunting tragedy at its heart. It's a clever, modern-day re-imagining of the classic poem, with a twisting plot that will keep readers guessing. I worried for poor Liz, falling head over heels for an unsuitable boy, and wanted to hug her when she thought about her dead mother. Most of all, I wanted her to find happiness and I couldn't for the life of me see how that could happen until the very last pages, when the mystery is finally revealed. Those last few chapters whizzed by and I really couldn't read them fast enough - I had to discover what had happened to Bess, and what would become of Liz and Zachary. I wasn't disappointed.

I found Glimpse to be an accomplished debut and a cracking ghost story. I would recommend it for readers aged 11+

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Why? by Tracey Corderoy and Tim Warnes - reviewed by Damian Harvey

If you haven't met Archie, the little rhino, before then you've missed a treat. Following on from "No!" this is Archie's second outing, and very welcome it is too.

"Archie [is] a rhino with a LOT of questions," and he's very keen to find out all the answers - much to the exasperation of his parents.

Why do some things smash when you drop them? Why are some things sticky, 'splashy', messy... In his quest to find the answers, Archie makes a lot of mess.

Mum and Dad decide that the best thing for them all would be a trip to the museum. There are so many wonderful things to see at the museum and so many questions to ask - some of which Mum and Dad can answer easily like "why aren't there any dinosaurs now?" Others aren't so easy, like "why does that man have such big ears?" After a long day Archie is worn out and has finally run out of questions. But of course tomorrow's another day...

This is a lovely picture book to read aloud and share. Children will delight in Archie's inquisitive nature and parents will sympathise with Mum and Dad. Tracey Corderoy's text, mostly written as dialogue which perfectly suits the narrative style of this story, is perfectly complimented by Tim Warne's beautiful illustrations. A joy from beginning to end.  

Published by Little Tiger Press

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Dragon Gold by Shoo Rayner, reviewed by Cavan Scott

Harri has a problem. Every time the school runs a competition, his friend Ryan wins. Why? Because Ryan's dad always does the work for him.

So when Harri's teacher sets a challenge to create a flying dragon for St. David's Day, he sets out to beat Ryan no-matter what. He starts sketching designs immediately - and then a real-life witch walks into his mum's shop. She gives Harri a magic egg, that contains a real life dragon!

Shoo Rayner's delightful story of school rivalry and welsh mythology is the first publication from new independent Firefly Press. It's funny, engaging and feels very of the minute. There's also a healthy dollop of Welsh folklore, largely delivered by Harri's teacher and yet avoids any sense of being an infodump thanks to likeable characters and a good sense of humour.

The story is helped along by Shoo's own lively illustrations, including handy little portraits of the POV character whenever the narrative shifts from one viewpoint to the other.

My only gripe would be that Harri's adventures with his new fiery pet end rather abruptly. I can only hope that this means we haven't seen the end of Harri and Tan the red dragon.

Reviewed by Cavan Scott

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PLAYING WITH MY HEART by Valerie Wilding. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

'I am so angry, and it is all Miranda's fault. She is the most stupid, loose-tongued friend it is possible to have.'

So begins Valerie Wilding's story - a historical romance for young teens, based around the Globe Theatre in 1599.

When Patience's father, a carpenter, starts doing some work for the theatre company, she and her sister Dippity also find employment there - Dippity as a skilled needlewoman and Patience copying scripts for the players. Their father has a new apprentice, Kit - a thoroughly nice, hardworking boy - and soon Patience and Kit become attracted to one another and everyone is pleased.

But the playhouse brings trouble. Patience meets the handsome and seductive Jeremy de la Motte, a boy player who takes female roles. At once she has eyes for no one else. Her risky pursuit of this young man has dangerous repercussions for the whole family.

I liked the way this story showed a real family busy with everyday work, running a home, worrying about money and helping out neighbours and friends in their small riverside community. This close-packed community complicates life for Patience as she is watched by a nosy neighbour and pestered by the devious Miranda. The story is told in first person in diary form. This makes for short sections and lively, natural story-telling.

Patience - wilful, silly, often self-centred but essentially sound - is a heroine that young readers will be able to relate to. The story is easy to read and subtly conveys a lot of information about the Globe Theatre. There is also a historical note and a timeline at the back.

Published by Scholastic, 2014.





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Everything is Fine by Cathy Brett reveiw by Lynda Waterhouse

Everything is fine is an illustrated novel as opposed to a novel with illustrations. The visuals give the story the immediacy and intensity of a graphic novel. There is also fluidity to the page layout which perfectly matches the voice of the narrator, fifteen year old Esther Armstrong. Words literally swirl and dance off the page.

Everything is not fine for Esther. She is missing her brother Max, her parents are constantly arguing and money is in short supply. She feels trapped in the small seaside town of Pebbleton.

Things start to change when Esther finds some letters hidden in her room. They have been sent by a soldier, Freddie, to his sweetheart from the trenches of the WW1. Esther is consumed with a desire to find out if Freddie survived.

At the same time a film crew moves in to her home including the handsome and self-centred Byron. As they begin filming a storm is literally brewing and Esther is forced to stop lying to herself and face some painful truths.

This is a powerful novel of love and loss. There are no easy answers, or tidy happy endings, for either Freddie or Esther.

ISBN 9780755379491

Published by Headline

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WILD WOOD by Jan Needle. Reviewed by Dennis Hamley.

The reissue of this marvellous novel must rank as a Literary Event. First published in 1981 by Andre Deutsch with unforgettably brilliant illustrations by Wiiliam Rushton, Wild Wood should have been widely recognised for the classic book it undoubtedly is instead of going out of print early.

Well, to some of us, it always has been a classic and its reissue, revised and even improved, after nearly forty-five years, is an occasion to celebrate.

It’s not a sequel to The Wind in the Willows. It’s not a retelling in any but the vaguest sense. It’s a complete re-imagining, a companion piece, almost a concordance to the original, as Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is to Hamlet. 

Oh, in Wind in the Willows, how disturbed Ratty, Mole and even Mr Badger are by the Wild Wood. It’s a place of evil, fear, intimidation and danger which we as readers, feel tangibly with Mole as he nervously traverses it. Stoats and weasels are threatening, nightmare creatures who disturb dreams. They are, if you’ll excuse the word, oiks. The privileged upper class Riverbankers never think that the wild Wood may contain a viable, relatively comfortable and unthreatening society – unthreatening unless they themselves feel threatened. Well, they do feel threatened. We’re seeing Wind in the Willows from the Wildwooders’ point of view and it’s not hard to realise that this is a novel about class and revolution and a valuable social document about Edwardian society.

The tale is told by Baxter Ferret, an unassuming animal, a sort of wide-eyed Everyman who stands slightly apart from the main action with an engagingly critical semi-detachment. He loves his cars, his machinery, his family and his beer. Old cars and home brewing are among the novel’s main preoccupations and part of the warm, protective, though often cold and hungry world of the Wood. 

Concealed beer jokes abound. For example, the professional agitator who arrives to spark the Wildwooders into revolution is Boddington Stoat, who is ‘peculiarly yellow, a little lacking in body, extremely bitter but one of the best.’ Anyone who has spent time in a Manchester pub will know exactly what Jan Needle is talking about. Baxter’s first ‘gaffer’ on the farm has a petrol wagon, a Throckmorton Squeezer ‘with …six cylinders each big enough to boil Cider in.” Cedric Willoughby, the ancient journalist, drives an ‘Armstrong Hardcastle Mouton Special Eight. 1907 with the whirling poppets…’ Such madly exaggerated machines populate the story. Yes, it’s full of loving detail of a tightly-knit working class society. Yet the Riverbankers are not entirely excoriated. Baxter may dismiss Ratty as a poetic sort of dreamer but there’s a measure of affection there. 

 

However, it’s much more than that. As a satire, Wild Wood is on a par with Animal Farm. Both recount flawed revolutions. Yes, the Wildwooders do take over Toad Hall, rename it Brotherhood Hall, and the egregious Toad - a creation as gross as the Toad Grahame creates, still funny but also a symbol of repression - is driven out. But, unlike Orwell’s revolution, this is one is not entirely successful. Grahame’s narrative cannot be tampered with. The revolutionaries settle for less than domination. Boddington’s fanaticism is tempered as he marries Baxter’s sister Dolly. We know that Mr Toad will return. The revolution peters out rather good-naturedly with a sort of rapprochement between Riverbankers and the Wildwooders, the upper class and the working class. We can look round us nowadays and say ‘If only it had lasted!’ 

 

Funny, profound, superbly written, deeply satisfying: Wild Wood has so many qualities. Perhaps the book didn’t make the impact it should in 1981 because staunch Grahame supporters thought it disrespectful. Far from it. As with all good satires, there is a strong element of homage to the original. The Wind in the Willows is a quintessentially British book. 

Even though it springs from a radically different social and political perspective, so is Wild Wood. Read it, cry with laughter and close it knowing that the two books together have provided you with a conspectus of a whole society in a particular age but still relevant for all of time.

Wild Wood by Jan Needle. Published by Golden Duck 2014. ISBN 978 189926221 2 £9.99

Thanks to Authors Electric for this portrait of Jan Needle. Another excellent blog to visit!

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Go Green! A Young Person's Guide to the Blue Planet by Claudia Myatt, reviewed by Julia Jones

Go Green! is published by the Royal Yachting Association as part of a series of instructional books by the illustrator / sailor Claudia Myatt . The series began with Go Sailing! an introduction to dinghy sailing that has been a world wide success and is as wonderfully clear for adult beginners as it is for the children who are its primary audience. Then came Go Cruising! Go Inland! Go Windsurfing! + various associated activity books. 

Go Green! is the odd one out in this energetic company.  It's a plea for the Blue Planet: an environmental book which will be accessible to the youngest readers and yet includes memorable facts and clear explanations that will do no harm at all to older members of the family. I believe it should find a space in all primary school libraries and holidaymakers off for their annual seaside jolly or luxury cruise should make sure they pack a copy. In fact, if Go Green!'s message is fully taken on board (pun intentional) a copy should be placed beside every lavatory in the land.

“What do the oceans do for us?” asks Go Green! – “and what do we need to do for the oceans?” It begins at the beginning with the earth as a hot waterless lump of rock covered by a cloud of dust and gases and ultimately, I suppose, its mission is to stop us returning to some similar state. I've never been good with geology so I felt clarified rather than patronised when I looked at a drawing of those early continents, Panthalassa and Pangea, and read Myatt's description of the land as being “like bits of toast floating on a bowl of thick molten rock soup”. Did you know that America and Europe are still drifting apart at the rate of 2cm per year? I didn't.

The scientific basis for Go Green! comes from Dr Susie Tomson who was inspired to become an environmentalist by the seaside holidays of her childhood. The lively drawings, bad jokes and memorably clear explanations are all Claudia Myatt's. They make the book palatable and pleasureable without diluting the main message. A cheery heading such as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Squid”, for instance, helps a word like bioluminescnce to trip off the tongue with no trouble at all. Go Green! is a little like the Horrible Geography series but it's accessible to a far younger age group. My five-year-old grandchildren have been composing letters to Greenpeace in school this term. Go Green! could have been written for them – while at the same time offering me the chance to field such innocently tricky questions such as “why does seawater taste salty?”

Claudia Myatt is the daughter of a meteorologist. Her colourful diagrams of trade winds and ocean currents leads convincingly into an understanding of the Great Pacific Garbage patch which in 2010 "was thought to be almost as big as Western Europe.” Plastic is the major villain of Go Green!   “Bodies of dead sea birds are found full of plastic, baby birds are fed pieces of plastic by their parents and then die of starvation.” 

Glass and some types of plastic may take as long as 500 years to degrade but there's nothing reassuring about this. The long process begins as soon as the plastic finds its way into the sea “until it becomes tiny particles suspended in the water – a kind of plastic chemical soup. It's now possible that there is more plastic in the sea than plankton. Some of that chemical soup ends up inside fish of course and gets into the food chain. And guess who eats some of that fish? That's right – you and me.”

The obvious temptation is to blame sailors for polluting the oceans. Go Green! is firm about the Marine Code of Conduct that sailing children should make their parents follow.  “We do not throw anything overboard” is Number One. However the vast majority of the rubbish in the sea has arrived there from the land. Don't throw it away, says Go Green! Reduce, reuse, recycle. Even landfill is better than allowing litter to reach the sea. THERE IS NO SUCH PLACE AS 'AWAY'.

Go Green! is a crusading book but it also including some charming pages of birds and shells and other “beach treasures”. Myatt wants children to waggle their toes in rockpools or blag their way onto square-rigged ships. She also wants them (and us) to treat the watery world with care and respect. The final fact I'll take away from Go Green! is that there is NO NEW WATER. It changes its form – vapour, liquid, solid – and may also change its distribution pattern but the total quantity remains the same. 97% of (liquid) water is in the sea. Round-the-world racer Mike Golding endorses Go Green's message "We need to learn to understand how to change our behaviour on-shore, thousands of miles away, to keep the oceans safe and clean up the planet. This, truly, is a book "for gulls and buoys everywhere".

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THE DEVIL IN THE CORNER by Patricia Elliott. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

Over the years, at both Arvon and Ty Newydd, I've taught courses where I met writers who were very talented.  There were a few who, I could see, would be published sooner or later. I'm very happy to be part of the beginning of their writing lives, and every time one of them brings out a new book, I feel pleased all over again. I'm talking about writers like Lynda Waterhouse, Gill Vickery, Caroline Pitcher and in this review, most particularly, Patricia Elliott.  I often review books by novelists I know and I've stopped explaining and sort of apologising... You'll have to take it on trust that I wouldn't review a book I didn't genuinely think was worth drawing to people's attention. 

Patricia has written historical novels, and fantasies and whatever she publishes is always both stylish and interesting. She's good at slightly fantastical tales set in the past, like one of my favourites,  Murkmere.  In The Devil in the Corner, she's produced a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of Victorian Gothic. It's a YA novel, and perfectly suited to that age group, but I don't think an adult reading it would feel in any way short-changed. There's enough plot to keep everyone who picks it up turning the pages, anxious to see what will happen next.

Maud, an orphan, is summoned to Windward House in Suffolk by her cousin Juliana. It's an old house, with all the appropriate shivery elements in place: slightly sinister servants, a very disabled young man called Sly who might or might not be the Devil of the title.  Then there's Edie, a fourteen year old girl whose cunning and mischief is driven by thwarted passion and whose actions and feelings constantly surprise both Maud and the reader. Then there's a painter called John, who's been commissioned by Juliana to restore the Doom Painting in the local village church.  (The painting is based, we are told by the author, on the Doom in St Peter's at Wenhaston in Suffolk. I am keen to see it.)  John and Maud meet on a train and the scene is set for a story of whispers, glances, poison, guilt, sexual assaults, drug addiction and murder. 

Many themes run through the novel, but it is mainly a love story and love wins through in the end. There is no slapdash element in Elliott's style. It is the very opposite of casual and colloquial.  Every word is both carefully chosen and appropriate. Nothing, anywhere, jars.  Elliott can also set a scene and take us into  someone's emotional turmoil better than many more well-known writers.

If you're an adult and enjoy novels like those by Essie Fox, for instance, this book is one you'd like. And any young person who relishes a spooky and  emotionally charged story will love it. Hodder Children's are to be congratulated for producing a very attractive paperback original with a cover that has more significance for the novel than you might realise at first. 

THE DEVIL IN THE CORNER: a paperback original.
published by Hodder Children's  £6.99
ISBN: 9780340956786





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Helen's Daugther - by Frances Thomas

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

The first thing I’m going to say about this book is that it is self-published.  That’s one of those expressions that used to get me wondering – why hasn’t this book been picked up by a traditional publisher?  I have to be honest, the term  ‘self-published’ used to set alarm bells ringing.  I expected something amateurish which immediately answered my question – it wasn’t good enough, the poor author deluded into thinking publishers were wrong not to take it on, etc, etc.  It used to be normal for self-published books to be very much second rate.

But there is a new breed of self-publishers emerging.  Those who are already published, who have proven themselves capable of writing good books, but find themselves at the mercy of publishers who feel their work is not ‘commercial enough’.  These are books that would probably sell well, but now that publishers have to shift  ever increasing numbers to make a profit, that is no longer enough.  The result is a whole lot of wonderful books that are not being traditionally published.  This is one of them.

Helen’s Daughter  is the first in a three part Girls of Troy series.  It is written from the viewpoint of Helen’s daughter Hermione, who is whisked away to live with her uncle Agamemnon, after her furious father Menelaus learns that his wife Helen has absconded to Troy with her lover, Paris.   While the fascinating story of Helen and Paris and her furious husband’s resolve is all there, the focus stays with Hermione and the effects these events have on her.   This gives the story a delightful blend of myth and reality, where the world of ancient Greece is depicted so well that you feel like you are living the story with Hermione.

The story starts with a frightened young girl in the back of a cart, being taken away from everything she knows.  It deals with growing up in a world that is very limiting to girls, while the events happening around can be terrifying.  It is also a coming of age story and deals with friendship and first love.   Bearing in mind the events that were going on at the time, there are some shocking moments in this, but they are beautifully handled.  It is a well-written book told through a heroine who might not be gung-ho and kick-ass, but has a subtle inner strength that makes her all the more likeable. 

This is a book that deserves publication and I hope the self-published venture pays off.

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'All In One Piece' by Jill Murphy, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Today my youngest child is twenty-one.  It seems a good moment to look back on childhood, so I put Susie on the spot, asking her to name a favourite childhood book. 

“That elephant one where the mum gets paint on her bottom,” she said. 

I knew exactly what that was; All In One Piece by Jill Murphy, first published in 1987 and still very much in print and selling well.  It’s lasted the test of time for very good reason.  Both text and pictures are absolutely wonderful.

 

                                                                                       

Jill Murphy knows real families, and her observational humour is spot-on, albeit that the family happen to be elephants leading human lives.  The drama here is on a domestic level, but none the less exciting or funny for that.  Mrs Large has been looking forward to the annual dinner dance all year, and she wants to look nice for it.  Granny is coming to babysit, and she gives the four children painting to do so that Mr and Mrs Large can get ready in peace.  But of course that’s now how it works out.  Luke wants to play with Mr Large’s shaving cream.  The baby plays with Mrs Large’s make-up, and Mrs Large doesn’t notice ‘until it was too late’.  (We, of course, have, noticed what Baby was up to because we can see in the pictures what’s happening the other side of Mrs Large’s mirror).  Laura is clomping about in her mum’s shoes, and Lester and Luke are seeing how many toys they can stuff into mum’s tights.  And suddenly it’s all too much for Mrs Large.

“Downstairs at once!” bellowed Mrs Large.  “Can’t I have just one night in the whole year to myself?  One night when I am not covered in jam and poster-paint?  One night when I can put on my new dress and walk through the front door all in one piece?”  And, oh, we can see in the picture how very sorry the four little elephants are!  But then Mrs Large does sort herself out, and goes off with Mr Large being told that she looks ‘like a film star’.  Mr Large gallantly tells her that she’d look wonderful to him, even if she was covered with paint.  ‘Which was perfectly true, and just as well really’ … because we can see that she’s sat on the paintbox and the bum area of the back of her dress is a patchwork of paint colours!

One Amazon reviewer feels that Mrs Large telling off her children is a terrible message about squashing children’s creativity.  Not a bit of it!  It is recognising, and smiling at, the real dramas and tensions in real families, where love is never in doubt even when people get, understandably, cross.  It is a funny book that gives the child audience the upper hand in knowing what’s really going on.  And I think it’s a romantic book that celebrates parental love for each other in midst of family chaos.    

It’s also a book that for us will be forever associated with repeated holidays in a particularly lovely spot of the Lake District, where that book lived and was brought out at bedtime many many times.  Place and people associated with books has a strong influence on how fondly they are remembered. 

Happy birthday, Susie! 

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Two Perfect Picture Books: ‘Snowy’ by Berlie Doherty and ‘Lord of the Forest’ by Caroline Pitcher, reviewed by Pauline Chandler

I love picture books, but there are so many these days that it is hard to choose which to add to my collection. The two I've chosen here are superlative examples, very different from each other, but both sharing that loving attention to the needs of children, which the best children's writers share. 

Both books are out in new editions for 2014: ‘Snowy’ is out now and ‘Lord of the Forest will be available in a mini version, from August 7^th.  

‘Snowy’  by Berlie Doherty, illustrated by Keith Bowen

Rachel lives with her mum and dad on a narrowboat, on the canal. She loves living on the boat, but what Rachel loves most is Snowy, the boat horse. When her teacher invites the children to take their pets to school, Rachel is distraught when Mum says no, she may not take Snowy. Snowy has to work, pulling the barge along the canal. Rachel is miserable when she tries to tell her classmates about Snowy. They laugh at her descriptions and don’t believe in her beautiful pet.

In a happy turnabout, Rachel’s teacher organises a school visit to the canal, where the children can see Rachel’s home, the narrowboat, and meet Snowy for themselves.

There is so much to enjoy in this outstanding picture book. First, it’s a story about real children, delightfully observed, who might wobble a loose tooth or poke a finger through a button hole, and sometimes cruelly tease a classmate, whom they think is telling a tall tale. As you might expect from Berlie Doherty, a supreme storyteller, the text is made to work hard, painting the rich details of barge life, in clear but lyrical language, and not shying away from the challenge of some hard words, the boat’s name for instance, Betelgeuse, with the pronunciation kindly explained as Beetle Juice, or ‘swingle tree’, the name for the stick used to attach the horse to the long barge rope.

This is a gem of a picture book, though, because of the story. It has all the elements of the best stories: a hero wronged, who is finally redeemed and justified, an unusual  setting, full of interest, and characters who behave as real people do. Writing a picture book of this quality is difficult. It’s a pleasure to see it so perfectly realised. 

Highly recommended for children aged 6+

‘Lord of the Forest’ by Caroline Pitcher, illustrated by Jackie Morris

Tiger has his eyes tight shut when he’s just born, but he can hear all the sounds of the forest: the slither of snakes and the whooping of monkeys. His mother says, ‘When you can’t hear the sounds, be ready. The Lord of the Forest is on his way.’

As Tiger grows up, he plays and explores, and still hears every sound: the creep of crabs, the flip of fish: then as an adult, seeing everything, his eyes are ‘worlds of wildness’.

Still he waits for the Lord of the Forest to come. Peacock, Rhino and Elephant all make their claim, but Tiger knows it is none of them.

When he meets his mate and raises his own cubs, he climbs to the highest ridge and roars his name across the forest: TIGER!  And finally he hears – SILENCE.

It’s his mate who shows him the truth, by inviting him to look at his reflection in the lake: ‘The Lord of the Forest is here.’  

As we’ve come to expect from Caroline Pitcher’s magical picture books, this is a superlative story, beautifully unfolded, at a pace that suits young children. ‘Lord of the Forest’ is a feast for the ears and eyes, and could be described as a poem in honour of tigers, with a wonderfully spare and lyrical text, powerfully illustrated by Jackie Morris.

Highly recommended for children aged 6+  

Pauline Chandler 

www.paulinechandler.com       

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THE TRIBUTE BRIDE by THERESA TOMLINSON. Reviewed by Penny Dolan.

This fascinating historical novel, by a twice Carnegie-nominated author,  allowed me to spend my weekend back in seventh century Britain. I loved the experience, even though it made me appreciate my own life and freedoms.

THE TRIBUTE BRIDE could be a book for older teens who love history, for young adults interested in the role of women in past and present societies, and is also a fine read for grownups. This is a novel about power and resilience, courage and survival, and about the possibilities of friendship.

I am slightly biased, as the story is set in the north of Britain, among landscapes I love, so there was a pleasure in matching the journeys and places against modern maps. 

The book had clearly been well researched; every page offers glimpses of everyday life: the cycle of the months and years, the power and role of dress and ornament, the importance of the rituals of court feasts and religious rites as well as the dangers of battle, the fear of famine and the anxiety of childbirth.

More than that, THE TRIBUTE BRIDE is a dramatic story. When Aelle’s kingdom of Deira is devasted by floods , he has no grain to pay his tribute to Athelfrid, the powerful war-lord of Bernicia. So King Aelle sends his sixteen year old daughter north, hoping she will be accepted as tribute instead, and be a peace-weaver bride between the kingdoms.

Acha, young enough at sixteen to give the warrior Athelfrid the sons he wants, is accepted, although she too must accept being in second place. Athelfrid already has a wife, the beautiful Queen Bebba.

For a short while, Acha is won over by her husband’s charm and glamour, but soon his attention shifts back to battles and to Bebba. Acha soon learns how true he is to his nickname and his personal god: the Trickster Loki, when without asking he takes back his wedding gift of brood-mares for his own warriors. Left with only a few colts, Acha must recognise that Athelfrid acts as lord and owner of everything and everyone.

 

Fortunately, helped by her wise old servant Megan, Acha’s attractive and generous spirit guides her to act in ways that brings her firm friends. Eventually, she even finds a sister and fellow-mother in the Pictish Queen Bebba, and it seems her life as a princess is settled. However, all is not over. During what should be Acha’s moment of greatest happiness, she discovers that Athelfrid has, been playing a long and treacherous game, and that she and those she loves are caught up in it.

Reviewed by Penny Dolan

The Tribute Bride by Theresa Tomlinson.

Published by Acorn Digital Press.

ISBN 978-1-909122-63-5 £7.99.

Available on kindle too.

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