Being Mortal by Atul Gawande reviewed by Julia Jones

Being Mortal:
 Illness, Medicine
and What Matters in the End

I was deep in the pre-Christmas desk-tidy when I found a slip of paper where I'd written these wise words. “I'm a children's author and I deal with good and bad and is there such a thing as innate evil.”

 I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who said or wrote this, though I can think of a whole list of likely candidates. I'm also a children's author and I've been surprised to discover how frequently I deal with death -- as well as good and bad and the springs of evil. Not just death as the convenient bumping-off of villains but the deaths of characters who, as an author, I have come to love; deaths that make me cry. This is one of the uses of fiction, enabling us to practise facing the harshest facts of life, yet still with the ability to shut the book and run outside to play.

Death is not something that most of us see very frequently in this country, whether we are children or adults. Our life expectancy is longer, our healthcare aspirations higher. Death happens, as inevitably as ever, but increasingly it's something that happens off-stage. With the recent death of right-to-die campaigner, Debbie Purdy, and the End of Life (Assistance) Bill going through the Scottish Parliament,  2015 may be a year that we collectively think more deeply about mortality and end-of-life care. So I hope that you will forgive the fact that this first review of the new year is not of a story for young people but a non-fiction work whose subject affects us all.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon. He lives and works in Massachusetts, keeps in close touch with his family roots in India (where he is running a large research and teaching project) and was the BBC Radio 4 Reith lecturer in December 2014. The four Reith Lectures were titled “Why do Doctors Fail?”, “The Century of the System”, “The Problem of Hubris” and “The Idea of Well-Being”. All are available to listen to on-line or print out for free – so why did I buy a half-dozen copies of this hardback book to give family and friends for Christmas? 

The answer's obvious. Being Mortal has a range and a coherence, a steady development of argument that's simply not possible in a lecture series where only individual facets of an issue can be reflected. Gawande begins with the long life and traditional old age care of his grandfather Sitaram Gawande, a farmer in a small village 300 miles inland from Mumbai, who rode round his fields every day until he died – at the age of 109. It was not that Sitaram was extraordinarily physically adept. He would have failed most of the eight “Activities of Daily Living” that an American health care professional would have used to assess his ability to live independently and he would therefore have been consigned to a nursing home. But living as the most senior member of a large extended family he was never even required to tie his own shoe laces.

Atul Gawande writes with undisguised dislike of the dreary, regimented, infantilising old people's 'Homes' that are nothing of the sort, and with respect for the foundation of the Assisted Living Movement. These are US examples of course but it's simple enough to make the connections to UK institutions. Again and again he gives examples of actual older people he knows and their struggles to find the right circumstances to enable them to live good lives into old age. He doesn't romanticise the traditional family living that served his grandfather so well. He knows that this is not possible or wanted any more, yet he is certain that there must there must be ways in which people can continue to exercise some choice over the way they live – right until the end.

As a cancer surgeon Gawande is only too aware of the part played by illness in closing down life's possibilities. It is this that troubles him most of all – too many people now die in hospital, too many extensive, painful – and ultimately unnecessary – operations are allowed to blight the last days of life. Should doctors continue to play god – deciding what can be done within the vast possibilities of modern medicine and forging ahead to do it? Should they step back and offer information about all options, however unlikely and experimental, then expect the patient to make an unaided decision? Or could the consultation be something more holistic?  Gawande aspires to a role where he is able to warn someone that they are coming towards the end then ask them what they want from their final days. As a doctor he can then either go for the big operation or for something simpler and temporarily alleviating, before using the resources of the hospice system to make the last wishes happen – ideally in the person's home.

Being Mortal is an expert's reflection on life, rather than death -- making sure that life continues to be satisfying and individual for as long as it lasts. I shall certainly be reading it again in 2015. 

(My particular interest in matters related to age is that I'm currently campaigning with my friend Nicci Gerrard for the rights of carers of dementia patients to remain with them in hospital. It's called John's Campaign, after Nicci's father. Do find us on Facebook or twitter or visit our website www.johnscampaign.org.uk )

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AUNT SASS: Christmas Stories by P.L.Travers reviewed by Adèle Geras

Fans of Mary Poppins, who are still legion, (though maybe not as numerous as the more recent droves of Frozen devotees,) will be thrilled with this little book. It's exactly the sort of thing any one of them would be delighted to find under the tree on Christmas morning but if this review is too late for that treat, then the volume will be equally welcome after the New Year.

This lovely edition comes from Virago as one of their Modern Classics and I'm grateful to them for sending it to me for review. I confess to being a lover of the Julie Andrews movie and also very fond of the more recent Saving Mr Banks, starring Emma Thomson and Tom Hanks. 

These little essays, or snatches of memoir, were given to the author's friends at Christmas time. Now, we can read them too, and they are quite delightful. We meet three characters who were clearly very important to the young Travers: Aunt Sass herself, who has a lot in common with Mary Poppins , a Chinese cook, and a foul-mouthed jockey who worked on the homestead in Australia where the author grew up.

Victoria Coren Mitchell's introduction is exemplary. She tells us just enough about the essays to arouse our interest and also to explain the context in which they were written. This is important because for modern readers, some of the ways Travers refers to Aboriginal Australians, or Chinese servants, or even Irish ones, and some of their reported speech will seem a bit...well, it's not how we refer to minorities these days and children especially need to have such difference in vocabulary and idiom explained to them.

I'm not sure how young the recipients of the original stories were and I'm also not sure how today's children will respond to this book, at least if reading it by themselves. It seems to me perfect for  reading aloud to someone younger while explaining things and interpreting the finer points of historical detail, but as Victoria Coren Mitchell says: "Many of the preoccupations of those wonderful novels appear in these pages: merry-go-rounds, gorgon nurses, small dogs, smart hats, suns and moons and comets and constellations."

I suspect it's a book for older people: an ideal present for a grandmother, say. P.L. Travers is a writer of very elegant and supple prose. She writes at the end of the first story, Aunt Sass:
'We write more than we know we are writing. We do not guess at the roots that made our fruit. I suddenly realise that there is a book through which Aunt Sass, stern and tender, secret and proud, anonymous and loving, stalks with her silent feet. You will find her occasionally in the pages of Mary Poppins.'

Finally, I would like to emphasise what a pleasure it is to read such a beautifully produced book. The paper, the fonts, the illustrations by Gillian Tyler are a pure delight and the shape and size are just right for putting into a handbag....even one much smaller than  the one that accompanied Mary Poppins.


-----------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Adele,  for this,  which is the last review for 2014.

 

Like Awfully Big Blog Adventure, ABR is taking a short break over the Christmas holidays.  Many thanks to all our Reviewers for their thoughts and posts during the year - you've chosen some brilliant titles!

 

Awfully Big Review will be back at the start of January.

 

Meanwhile, wishing you all the best for the season - and much happy reading in 2015.

 

Penny Dolan.

 

END

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Jimmy's War by Lynne Benton

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

Here is a terrific book about World War II – written in the easy to read flowing style perfect for younger readers, yet still able to bring across the terror and heartbreak that children faced during the war.  A book I enjoyed reading and would heartily recommend – as long as you have a kindle.

This is another example of a book that has been self-published because mainstream publishers wouldn’t take a punt on it.  I don’t know why – perhaps it’s because World War II isn’t considered marketable at the moment.  There is absolutely no reason why this should not have been published – it’s as good as any other war-time story I’ve read for that age group.

But back to the book.  Here we have eleven year old Jimmy, whose father told him to do look after his younger sister and do as his mother says – then left to go to war.  That was over a year ago and now his mother’ had the dreaded ‘missing presumed dead’ telegram.  Now the children have the chance to be evacuated to Cornwall but, wracked with grief, his mother can’t bear to let the children go – they are all she has left.

The consequences of her decision are disastrous, leaving Jimmy with the task of taking his young sister Molly away from their bombed out house and finding their way to an aunt in Somerset.  With barely enough money for the fair and their possessions packed into pillowcases, the children set off.  Now the descriptions of two lost children come into their own as we are taken on a gripping, heart-in-your mouth adventure, in which young Jimmy takes on the responsibility of looking after Molly while keeping a terrible secret from her.  As a consequence the lies keep piling up, then the frustration at Molly’s questions turns to guilt at his annoyance with her.  For Molly is an endearing six year old with a furry rabbit she can’t do without. 

I don’t want to reveal too much, but I will say that, after a lot of trials and tribulations, the ending of the book is positive.  I won’t say it is happy ever after, because that would be unrealistic – this is a book about war and happy endings were rare.  And this book, despite its gentle tone, deals realistically with the horrors of war.

It’s a good read and I can recommend it.

 

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Gambledad, by Josephine Feeney, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

In the mass of children’s books out there, do you know of any novel for primary age children which deals honestly with the issue of gambling?  Well, here is one, brand new, and it’s a goody. 

Don’t let the ‘issue’ at the heart of the story make you assume that this is a dull story-as-medicine kind of a book, because this isn’t at all.  It’s an instantly engaging and lively story of one family’s struggle through a particular crisis brought-on by Dad’s gambling.  It is mostly told from the point of view of eleven year old Antonio, although we do get Dad’s explanation for his son as well, giving the gambler’s own view. 

Antonio is the rude and difficult boy in the class, but because we know what is happening at home we understand why that is.  Tonio is hurt and scared, and doesn’t know what is to happen to himself, his mother and his little sister when his Dad loses their home in a bet. They set off to Hanstanton for a holiday which isn’t really a holiday, with the future very uncertain …

This is a fast-paced lively read through short chapters which will be easily accessible to children of 7-11.  Some children may recognise the problems addressed by this story.  Others may gain insights into possible problems that explain the behaviour of other children they know.  All will enjoy a very engaging story that ends positively, but open enough to show that the problems aren’t all neatly solved and finished with.

This is a book which should be in very primary school library.

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‘When It Snows’ by Richard Collingridge reviewed by Pauline Chandler

Browsing in our local book shop (yes, we still have one !) for Christmas picture books for my grandson, my eyes were drawn to the beautiful cover of ‘When It Snows’. Its sombre night time colours really stood out from the rest. There’s that huge reindeer too, towering over a very small child. It looked unusual, if not slightly threatening, but I was attracted to it and intrigued, so I opened this beautiful book. I’m so glad I did. It’s a gem.

The images of giants continue throughout the story.

We have a giant train, enormous snowman, gigantic trees and the towering Queen of the Poles, and there's that reindeer, hung all over with sacks and boxes of presents, its antlers rearing up like huge leafless trees. As I followed the story I realised that the unusual proportions could reflect a small child's point of view, as well as what we might expect from the world of myth. There are small characters too, fairies and elves, and Santa is reassuringly human size. 

These illustrations are all beautifully depicted in the same sombre colours as the cover, dark blues and greys, the shades of a winter’s night in a magical landscape. No Disney glitz here!

Richard Collingridge writes and illustrates his own stories, a skill I’ve always admired, and both aspects of ‘When It Snows’ are outstanding.  It's true that the story follows a traditional pattern, with the boy narrator setting out on a journey, to exciting destinations: ‘the place where the snowmen live’, ‘the gloomy forest, Where I meet the Queen of the Poles’ and finally ‘a secret place’ where he finds Santa Claus. What makes this is story different is the twist the writer puts on these traditional elements. I especially love the idea of Santa having just one giant reindeer! 

There’s a delightful ending too, where the child narrator tells us that he can find these places again, at any time, by opening his favourite book.

This is a story about imagination, fairy tale, myth and magic, just a step away from a child's real world. Recently, there was the case of a vicar who baldly told children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. How short sighted of him!  How wrong to limit a child’s dreams and imagination!  This lovely book says ‘There might be,’ ‘There could be’, ’Wouldn’t it be wonderful if-‘.  I prefer that approach. It was the one I took with my own children, adding ‘no one’s ever seen him, so we just don’t know.’ I wish I’d been able to share 'When It Snows’ with them. I’m sure it would have become a Christmas favourite.

Highly recommended for age 5+

'When It Snows' by Richard Collingridge, publ. David Fickling Books

Pauline Chandler

www.paulinechandler.com   

     

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The Wind Singer by William Nicholson - reviewed by Cecilia Busby

"I hate school! I hate ratings! I won't strive harder! I won't reach higher! I won't make tomorrow better than today!"

So shouts Kestrel Hath, bellowing her rage and frustration from the very top of the highest tower in the exam-obsessed city of Aramanth, near the beginning of William Nicholson's classic fantasy, The Wind Singer. In Aramanth, your family status is judged by the grades each member gets in annual exams, from the age of two upwards - and a strict hierarchy results, with demarcations maintained in the type of housing, clothing and employment granted them by the city administration. Kestrel has finally had enough - of the endless tests, of the fear they produce, of the unfairness of it all. But her defiance will seal the family's fate - they will be sent down to the lowest tier of all, Grey District, and the only way she can hope to change anything is if she sets out with her twin brother Bowman into the wilderness to find the 'voice' of the mysterious Wind Singer, the contraption left in Aramanth by the legendary Singer people, long ago.

This book was a favourite of my eldest daughter, now off at university, and I revisited it recently because my youngest (12) seemed about the right age for it. We listened to the audiobook on a long journey from Devon to East Sussex, and I was struck by the sad fact that the book is even more relevant to children today than it was in 2000, when it was published.

Near the beginning, Kestrel's brother Bowman hugs his other, baby, sister, Pinpin, with a sadness that comes from knowing today is the day of her first test. "She was only two years old, too little to mind how well or badly she did, but from now till the day she died she would have a rating." We are told that in Aramanth "life was measured out in tests. Each test brought with it the possibility of failure, and every test successfully passed led to the next, with its renewed possibility of failure. There was no escape from it, no end." Every day at school, the pupils are ranked in order of their points, and exhorted to "strive harder, and reach higher, to make tomorrow better than today".

Of course, this is a fantasy. Aramanth isn't real. But it's heart-breakingly close to the mark for so many children today, who are (according to OFSTED guidelines) expected to know their national curriculum levels for each subject, whether they are achieving above, below or on 'target' and exactly what must be done to achieve the great leap to the next minor sub-division. Even the motto they chant reminds me of the constant exhortation to strive and do better every day that we see in our current education system - my son's school's (newly coined) motto is "Dream, Believe, Achieve".

Nicholson does a great job of showing us the folly, cruelty and unfairness of such an exam and achievement-based system and the ways it sees only a certain sort of value. Later in the book, Kestrel's father subverts residential retraining classes for those adults who regularly perform badly in the exams by persuading them to write about not what they are asked but about what they know - and they all know some fascinating and valuable things that the rigid exam structure doesn't allow for.

My daughter certainly enjoyed the parallels, and appreciated the efforts of Kestrel, Bowman and their family to revolt against the Examiners, who ruled the city. But the book is about more than just that ratings system. It's about love, loyalty, the power of the imagination, empathy and keeping true to a moral centre. Kestrel and Bowman are helped in their epic journey to find the wind singer's voice by the dunce of their class, Mumpo, a lumpy, inarticulate, dribbling failure, who falls in love with Kestrel because she once sat next to him in class as part of an act of defiance. Kestrel isn't too pleased by his adoration to start with, and Nicholson doesn't spare his readers from just how annoyingly whiny, smelly and greedy the boy can be, but there are hidden depths to Mumpo, and over the course of the book the siblings learn to appreciate and love the apparently unloveable.

My daughter loved it, and I was really taken with it over again. Above all, the book is a great, imaginative and warm-hearted adventure story, which asks you to really think about what is or isn't valuable in life. As such it will live on in the minds of its readers for a long time.







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The Fairytale Hairdresser and Father Christmas, by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

TITLE: THE FAIRYTALE HAIRDRESSER AND FATHER CHRISTMAS
by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard
Published by Picture Corgi
Publication date: 24 September 2014
Paperback

Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard's Fairytale Hairdresser series continues with a seasonal instalment that pits Kittie the hairdresser against the infamous Snow Queen.

It's the season to be jolly and Kittie is worked off her feet coiffuring various celebrity customers.  But when she clocks in at Santa's workshop to see to the elves' hair, she discovers that someone has stolen the presents meant for the inhabitants in fairyland.   Who could the culprit be and why would they seek to ruin everyone's Christmas?

Longstaff's adventure moves at a cracking pace, seamlessly binding new plot and fairy tale elements. The story begs to be read again and again while Beard's illustrations yields extra gems. As in the previous books featuring Kittie, there are a lot of visual puns.  The spreads showing Santa's workshops and the ice-skating ring at the end are especially delightful.

A grand pantomime of a book, not to be missed.

Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Follow me on twitter @spirotta
Like me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/spirotta
Website http://www.spirotta.com

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Vivian French deftly uses elements of fairy-tale and myth to create the setting of The Snarling of Wolves; so, for instance, we find a (Less) Enchanted Forest, three Ancient Crones (who, like the Greek Fates, weave a magical web), more princes and princesses than you can shake a broomstick at, werewolves, zombies, a faithful troll - and an intelligence network of bats, whose leader, Marlon, wisecracks away like a character from Raymond Chandler.

The heroine, Gracie Gillypot, is a Trueheart, someone who brings out the good in people. The hero is Prince Marcus, who, unlike most of the other Royals in the Five Kingdoms, is brave, bright and adventurous. Gracie lives outside the Five Kingdoms (which are quite small, as Marcus realises when he looks down on them from the top of a tower), in the Less Enchanted Forest with the afore-mentioned Ancient Crones. The Crones are also responsible for keeping Foyce Undershaft safely away from the public. Foyce is half girl, half werewolf - and all bad. She hates Gracie, whom she blames for her captivity, and concocts a cunning plan to get her own back on the other girl and her beloved Marcus. Her hatred is the engine that sets the plot in motion.

The story moves at a swift pace and is liberally sprinkled with funny dialogue and great characters, as well as a generous scattering of fairy dust. I particularly liked the Ancient Crones (like calling to like, no doubt...) and the less ancient but still pretty elderly Queen Bluebell - but was also strangely drawn to the splendidly wicked Foyce and the conflicted but ultimately principled werewolves. All these are brought visually to life by Ross Collins' splendid illustrations. I wish I could show you some; you can get the idea from the cover with its magnificent werewolf, but you really need to see the full-page line drawings too. The artist clearly had a lot of fun, and he adds greatly to the reader's enjoyment of the book and understanding of the characters and their environment.

All these elements are very fine, but the absolute tour-de-force is the ending. All the characters, and all the different strands of the story, are brought together (by means of exceptionally skillful plotting) in a stunning set piece, where the good triumph, the wicked are overthrown, the fairly average change for the better, the misunderstood receive a sympathetic hearing, and the onlookers - and - readers can only cheer in admiration and delight. I can't tell you any more about it because it would spoil it - but no word of a lie, I haven't admired an ending as much since I read John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany.

This is the sixth in the Tales from the Five Kingdoms series, which began with The Robe of Skulls. You could read it as a standalone, but why would you? Better by far to read the whole series. And if anyone from Dreamworks or Disney is reading this (and why wouldn't they be?) - please note that this series would make an amazing animation. Oh, what you couldn't do with the path-with-a-mind-of-its-own, the troll who regularly loses his head, the silly princesses and the sinister Foyce!

I'd say the core audience would be 9-12 year olds. But as with so many children's books, you really don't have to be a child to enjoy it.

(This review first appeared on my own review site, A fool on a hill.)





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Doughnuts for a Dragon - by Adam & Charlotte Guillain, illustrated by Lee Wildish - reviewed by Damian Harvey

George, the brave young explorer from 'Marshmallows for Martians' and 'Spaghetti with the Yeti' makes a welcome return in Adam and Charlotte Guillain's latest picture book - 'Doughnuts for a Dragon'.
To prove that he is fearless and bold, George sets out on a time travelling adventure and goes in search of a dragon. After building himself a time machine, young George packs a bag...

"With some snacks that a hero might eat.

There were cakes, pies and buns, and a bottle of fizz,

And doughnuts - the ultimate treat."

 

Adam and Charlotte's delightful rhyming is full of fun and it takes us along on George's adventure as he comes across a Princess, an Ogre, a Witch and more - passing each one with help from his bag of tasty treats. To find out what happens when he finally confronts the fearsome dragon you will have to read on for yourself.

 

Lee Wildish's excellent, artwork is full of character, detail and motion, and he really brings the story to life. Readers will have lots to look at and discover as they revisit this book again and again. Sure to be a big favourite on anyone's bookshelf.

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Mariella Mystery investigates…The Spaghetti Yeti by Kate Pankhurst reviewed by Lynda Waterhouse

This is the fifth book in the series featuring the sparky nine and bit year old girl detective called Mariella Mystery created by Kate Pankhurst. The book is written in the form of Mariella’s super sleuth journal which allows for lots of fun with the page layout and for the use of lots of Kate’s lively illustrations.

In this adventure Mariella is on a camping holiday with her family and fellow Mystery Girls, Poppy Holmes and Violet Maple. Also coming along for the holiday is The Peanut aka Pippa Patterson best friend of Mariella’s annoying younger brother, Arthur. They pitch up at Limpet Rocks campsite and begin to sweep the campsite for ‘mysterious avenues.’ Salty Bay is a place where ‘The shops are all really old and the shopkeepers seem totally bored.’ Just when it seems that nothing is going happen a mysterious creature appears and makes off with the spaghetti pan! Is there really a spaghetti loving yeti hiding in the woods?

What made this story stand out for me was the quality of the writing. I have read so many book aimed at this age group that uses limited vocabulary, tries to be too jokey or too reliant on the illustrations to carry the plotline.

There are some great characters in this story too. I loved Olga De Bouffet and Mr Roads. Kate Pankhurst also beautifully portrayed the tensions of a seaside town when a new business sets up. A funny and warm story.

A Mariella Mystery story would make a great Christmas present.

Published by Orion books

ISBN 978-1-4440-1230-9

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THE SALT STAINED BOOK by Julia Jones, read by Anna Bentink. Review by Penny Dolan.

As a definite land-lubber, I am starting to mess about in books on boats and sailing, ready for next year’s work in progress. So it was a pleasure to be sent an audio-book of Julia Jones’ THE SALT STAINED BOOK recently. 

 

As the current owner of the real “Peter Duck”, Julia is a woman who knows her sailing stuff.  So it was no great surprise to discover this novel draws heavily on the world of Arthur Ransome, “Swallows and Amazons” and sailing on the River Orwell in Suffolk. There are references to Hiawatha and Treasure Island within the mix as well.

 

Although the book is intended for older middle grade and young teens, it seemed perfect “escapist” listening for a winter afternoon when you have some mind-numbing tasks to do.

THE SALT STAINED BOOK is definitely a ripping-yarn type of adventure but one brought into modern times: it has a contemporary setting and modern believable child characters, facing current problems. The likeable main character, Donny is almost fourteen, is used to helping his reclusive Granny care for his beloved mother Sky, who is deaf, dyslexic and scared of strangers.

When Granny dies, Sky and Donny leave Leeds in Granny’s old holiday campervan. They drive south to the Suffolk coast, ready to meet Great Aunt Ellen, their unknown yet only living relative, as directed by a mysterious telegram.

Donny and Sky fulfill Granny’s last wish - to buy him a copy of “Swallows and Amazons” - but after they leave the bookshop, Sky wedges the van in a car-park exit and gets in a panic. Suddenly, life gets much worse.  A nasty version of Social Services intervenes, rule-bound and unwilling to listen to what Donny is trying to tell them. Sky ends up in a secure hospital and Donny, not knowing where she is, is in a foster home.

I must say that the reader, Anna Bentink, really does enjoy voicing her baddies: the sweetly two-faced social worker Denise “Toxic” Tune, the bullying, racist policeman Jake Flint and the worryingly awful foster team: unctuous Vicar Wendy and Gregory, her weak, veg-peeling husband.  The double-tongued “languages” of care, health and safety, social systems, school and more made me squirm with a sort of  recognition. Julia Jones was, I felt, clearly making pointed observations here. I rather wondered if any young listeners should know that at least two of these nasty characters are revealed as “real” villains later on?

However, the quartet of young characters really makes this story. Donny - slow and lacking in confidence - falls in love with sailing from the moment he sees dinghies bobbing on the reservoir near his new school.  He is still determined to meet Great Aunt Ellen at Shotley.

Then at the Vicarage, Donny makes friends with Anna, a cunning looked-after child who knows how to work the system to her own advantage. 

(The scene where Anna makes sure she and Donny are allowed out is a comic delight.  She may be small but she has such wit!)

On the school bus, Donny and Anna meet the privileged Ribiero sisters:, admirable loud-mouthed Xanthe and her kind, observant little sis, Maggie. Daughters of a black magistrate and a doctor, these new “Amazons” have learned to stand up for what they believe in. So, when they eventually hear about Donny’s love of the water and his need to meet up with his lost relative – as well as being attacked by a bully in a boat - what can they do but help him?

The long and complex plot of the “SALT STAINED BOOK” offered me plenty of exciting moments (and an enigmatic back-story), moments of sadness and joy on Donny’s behalf, and a rather wonderful meeting near the end. Perfect for a grey day, I felt.  The paper version of this book is the first in Julia's "Strong Winds" trilogy which seems, for keen readers, a good thing. How can an old Chinese junk be otherwise?

Although, amazingly, Donny starts learns to sail by studying his battered copy of “Swallows and Amazons”, Ransome’s inspirational stories never quite made me into a sailor. But, for a while, I certainly longed to be one and  -  though a duffer* - did enjoy re-living those young sea-dreams through Julia Jones Salt Stained Book adventure.

Have you listened to any good audio-books lately?

Review by Penny Dolan

Ps At another level entirely, I found the chapters being read didn’t correspond to the chapters indicated on my Ipod display, but that is a technical niggle, and may well be at Apple’s audio end rather than a Golden Egg production problem.

*“Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won’t drown” is the permission given for the children to sail to the island in Swallows and Amazons.

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WRITING IN THE HOUSE OF DREAMS by JENNY ALEXANDER. Review by Penny Dolan

Writing books seem to divide into two categories.. Both kinds, at different times, are valuable. There are books that look outward, offering advice about how to do it – create the characters, build a plot, write a breakthrough novel, get your work published and so on – and the kind of book that looks inwards, into the writer and the imagination and the creative act of writing.

Jenny Alexander’s book, Writing in the House of Dreams: Creative Adventures For Dreamers & Writers, is very much about the workings of that inner writer. Jenny carefully weaves the threads of her own life in Shetland and in Cornwall with her knowledge of psychology, anthropology myths and therapy, and builds a fascinating book for dreamers and for writers.

She traces her own growth in understanding and experience, from early struggles and difficult dreams through to her work now as a writer, anti-bullying expert, writing tutor and as a leader of dream-work courses and workshops. 

Each chapter starts with a brief introduction to a new stage in the dreamer’s journey, a section of Jenny’s personal memoir and an activity.

Jenny’s book moves away from “analysing dreams through universal symbols” style. Instead, she believes in the personal meaning of each “dream story” for that individual. What I found most valuable was that, throughout the pages, Jenny sees the similarity between the dreamer dreaming stories and the writer in their “trance”, dreaming up stories. She describes how “the coming and going between the worlds has a transformative effect.”

Although Writing in the House of Dreams explains the practice of daily dream journaling and the control of worrying dreams, there are many simpler practical exercises too.

Having attended a couple of Jenny’s collage workshops, I know these activities can free up the mind, even if you, too, are not a frequent dreamer.

Independently published through Five Lanes Press – that story is within these pages too - this book speaks in a calm and reassuring voice. Writing in the House of Dreams is clearly a work of love and deep thought and, as Jenny herself would say, “a book of the heart”.

Jenny also runs a “Writing in the House of Dreams” blog and her companion volume, “When a Writer Isn’t Writing: How to Beat Your Blocks and Find Your Flow”, is published in 2015.

Penny Dolan

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The Last Of The Spirits by Chris Priestley - Review by Dawn Finch

First the blurb....

London is in the icy grip of winter. Sam is freezing and hungry. When he asks a wealthy man, Ebeneezer Scrooge, for money he is rudely refused. Sam is filled with violent rage and vows to kills this selfish man. Later, huddled in a graveyard for warmth, Sam sees the wraithlike figure of a man approaching. The man warns Sam about the terrible future which awaits him if he chooses the path of murder...

Chris Priestley has enviable talent as a writer of Gothic tales and, in November 2014, adds The Last of the Spirits to his growing bookshelf of titles. 'Tis the season of ghosts and icy nights, and so this is a fitting time to bring out this companion to Dickens' Christmas Carol. Companion is exactly what this book is, those expecting a simple retelling will be in for a pleasant surprise as this tale stands solidly beside Christmas Carol, but this is no retelling.

Last of the Spirits follows the misfortune of two homeless children on the icy streets of 19th Century London. The two children, siblings Sam and Lizzie, are caught up in the spectral visitations that plague Scrooge through his tormented Christmas Eve. They are not part of Ebeneezer's story yet, they have their own tale to tell first.

Many writers have tried to snack at the groaning table of Dickens' remarkable works, but Priestley brings something new and satisfying to the feast. In a time of over-long tomes filled with wasted words, this book is refreshingly bright and to the point. No wasted words here. Priestley writes with blade-sharp clarity and this story is completely new, whilst also having a reassuringly familiar quality. It is rather like finding out something new and fascinating about an old family member. Priestley has turned the camera-eye around on the classic tale, thus allowing us to see what else might have been happening at the same time. The story has lots of chilling moments, plenty of ghosts, and you can really feel the deep icy cold of the season as you read it. I recommend a nice cosy room when you read this!

One thing that really jumped out at me (including the startling spirits!) was how well this book reads aloud. Even the best of books sometimes fall down when it comes to reading them aloud, but Last of the Spirits would make an excellent book to share aloud with others. Dickens regularly read Christmas Carol out loud and did so for decades after publication. Some books are written to be heard as well as read, and I can see this taking its place as one of those books brought out every year to share again.

Review by Dawn Finch (author of Brotherhood of Shades. www.dawnfinch.com)

Last of the Spirits by Chris Priestley

Suggested reading age - 9-11

Pub - Bloomsbury

06 November 2014

ISBN - 9781408854136

Cover price - £10.99

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The Firebird Trilogy by Nick Green reviewed by Julia Jones

I've just read the three parts of Nick Green's Firebird Trilogy as one big book. It's been a terrific experience and I'd happily go back to the beginning and start again.

Leo Lloyd Jones is a teenage joy-rider from Salford who is picked – accidentally, he assumes – to be part of an elite group of youngsters who might be required to rehabilitate the world in the case of cosmic catastrophe. This is Project Firebird. Now I don't normally do much in the way of cosmic catastrophe and my appetite for dystopias is distinctly limited. But I love adventure and stroppy teenagers and their capacity for moral decisions and courage and emotion and idealism and that's what Project Firebird gave me.

Leo's quality is leadership, the indefinable sort which is something quite different from ambition or the desire for power. Most of the time he's completely unaware of it but when push comes to shove he's usually able to make the right choices and find the words to inspire others. On his first day at Project Firebird he is sitting next to fourteen year old Rhys Carnavon, the fit, good-looking ' natural leader' who has just trekked back from Antarctica after witnessing the death of his scientist father. The shifting relationship between Leo and Rhys is a main plot strand running throughout the trilogy. It's complex, does not allow for second guessing and has a resonance beyond the individual characters. It's one of the reasons I'd like to read the trilogy again.

Plotting is excellent throughout. For me the books really began to sing at the shift between volumes one and two, Project Firebird to Firebird Dawn. The shock at the beginning of the second volume was, I thought, brilliantly managed – especially when an unexpected twist and additional layer of complexity was revealed later in the book. Another welcome moment was the emergence into the open air. Nick Green seems to be particularly good at evoking effects of light on landscape and glistening natural beauty. Not that the post-disaster countryside is uniformly lovely: there are methane flares from pockets of rotting garbage and a glimpse of a survivor spending his (short) life melting down abandoned plastic. One imaginative insight I especially enjoyed was Leo's occasional sense of his 'own' landscape – Salford, Manchester, the M6 motorway – buried a thousand years below the landscape on which he and his friends are struggling to survive.

There's cruelty and loss in this second volume but I feel somehow that it's the most human of the three. That's a descriptive not an evaluative point. The mainly female Blackwater village, the ruthless Dustral raids are small scale in comparison with the brutalities and stark struggles for existence in the final volume Firebird Radiant. That's fine. I think trilogies should work rather like symphonies with themes introduced, developed and brought to some resounding climax. AS such, however there the obvious danger or predictability and one of Nick Green's clevernesses in his third volume is to counterpoint the megalomaniac’s bid for global domination with the intimate domesticities of broken nights and nappy changing.

There are thrilling action sequences, delicate moments of relationship and some extraordinarily fine descriptive writing throughout the trilogy. There's also plenty of intellectual content and much to reflect on and discuss in our management of the natural world. I rather hope that we are sufficiently co-operative to establish a Global Seed bank to preserve crop varieties – currently I hear more about fragmentation and restrictive patenting. These books could be offered to consumers of The Hunger Games or Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses. Instead each volume is available for £1.85 on Kindle. I don't think this is ideological statement: I think this is 21st century publishing's failure.

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Class Six and the Nits of Doom by Sally Prue. ...reviewed by Adèle Geras

I know I am always doing it: the very opposite of what you're supposed to do.  The etiquette is: you don't puff the work of your friends. Indeed, you go to great lengths to avoid mentioning it, lest you be accused of bias.

I'm quite happy to be accused of bias. I am biased in favour of those of my acquaintance who just happen to be good writers. Because I'm a writer, I have a lot of friends like this...and Sally Prue is one of them. I make a point of bringing their latest work to the attention of the wider world and I don't feel in the least guilty about it. I have, I promise you, a HUGE pile of stuff by people I know which I have no intention of reviewing. 

Sally Prue's little book needs  critical attention for two reasons. First, because it's good but more importantly, it's one of a specific kind of book which never gets noticed at all.  This is the small, not very flashy narrative for younger readers: the kind of thing you'd find in a classroom but not on the pages of the Sunday Times. 

These are often the books to which children have most access. They are short, which means that they're accessible at a time when readers need good meaty stuff to move them on to really demanding books. They must be simple without being stupid. This is not as easy to achieve as it looks.  It helps when there's an occasional line drawing to pull the child through the  story.  It helps greatly if they're funny. And if they're written by someone who takes as much care with every sentence as Prue does, then the readers are in luck and this slim volume will be excellent exercise for those parts of the brain that are needed to turn children into enthusiastic lovers of every kind of book.

 Class Six and the Nits of Doom.... an immediately interesting title...poses a what if which has probably often crossed the mind of disgruntled pupils: what if Miss is actually a witch? 
I'm not giving too much away when I tell you that this year,  in Class Six, Miss is not only a bona fide witch, but also one who doesn't limit herself to the more fluffy and child - friendly enchantments. On the contrary, these spells can be properly nasty and the way Class Six copes with them strikes me as admirably stoical. Not only that: whenever someone suggests getting adult help of some kind, his or her fellows say, to all intents and purposes, "Naah, don't bother, they won't believe us. "

So the pupils deals with this predicament as best they can. The dénouement, when it comes, is exactly right. But along the way there are the incidental delights of Prue's writing, which is both hilarious and quite sharp.  

Also, the fact that Class Six can be going through what it is going through while the rest of the school goes on around it unawares, says something quite profound about the way we deal with problems affecting our close neighbours but not ourselves ....this is something to go on thinking about when the fun and games are over. 

Whatever its deeper significance,  Prue has written a jolly good romp which moves at a cracking pace and those who've just begun to read fluently will love it.



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TAKING FLIGHT - By Sheena Wilkinson

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

This is a book of contrasts – about two cousins living near each other, yet in completely different worlds.  Declan is the son of a single alcoholic mother living on a rough estate, attending a rough school, someone with no ambition other than to finish school as soon as possible.  At the start of the book he is in trouble again, for lashing out at his former mate, who describes his mother as a slag because she’s having an affair with his father.  His punishment is suspension, but it’s the letter of apology that Declan finds hardest to deal with.

When his mother tries to kill herself, Declan has to go and stay with his cousin Vicky.  Vicky lives with her divorced mother Colleen and pays regular visits to her wealthy father and new wife, the main purpose of which seems to be to demand more money for riding lessons and more support with her flashy new showjumper, Flight.  Hers is a world of private school, horses, giggly friends and shopping – and absolute horror that her mother used to live on the same estate as Declan.

The story is told from these two viewpoints, Declan struggling with what life has thrown at him, while Vicky struggles not to let him near her friends.  The one thing that could bring them together is the one thing that drives them further apart – horses.  Declan has never been near a horse before, is reluctant to be dragged off to watch ‘princess Vicky’ riding Flight – and completely astonished with how much he immediately takes to them.  The more his affinity with the animals comes out, the more Vicky is determined to keep him away.  But, as Declan’s situation spirals ever downwards, it is Vicky who holds the key to his redemption – if only she can find it within herself to overcome her bitterness and jealousy.

The two viewpoints are handled deftly, although it’s Declan who has the reader’s sympathy, despite his flaws.  Coming from her privileged background, it can be harder to empathise with Vicky, although Declan can be pretty cruel to her.  Ultimately, this book is about accepting people for who they are, rather than their situation.  Winner of the CBI Book of the Year Award, this is a great, page-turning read.  

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No Going Back by Alex Gutteridge, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

   

 Alex Gutteridge is brilliant at writing stories that feel light and easy to read, and yet carry a depth of wise consideration of life and love and loss and families and friends that keeps you thinking about the story long after the reading of it has finished. 

It took me a long time to become a real reader as a child.  I struggled with learning to read, so didn't see it as something to do by choice for fun for a long time.  My breakthrough book was 'Flambards' by K M Peyton, and I mention that because it was the same qualities of light first romance in a novel, together with moral dilemmas for characters I cared about, that I recognise in Alex Gutteridge's 'No Going Back' and her earlier 'Last Chance Angel'.  I think this will be a book that entices reluctant young (mostly female) readers of about twelve to fourteen into reading a story that will move them to laugh, cry and think. 

Described as 'contemporary paranormal', this is the story of fourteen year old Laura who has had to leave the London home she and her mum have shared since the accidental death of her father ten years before.  Now they must move to Derbyshire to live with ailing grumpy Gran.  But they aren't the only ones to move into Gran's house.  Suddenly the ghost of Dad is there too, well meaning but annoying in just the way that all dads are to their teenage offspring!  There are secrets from the past to be revealed, family misunderstandings to be sorted, and a kitten and boy to be flirted with and finally won. 

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A Breath of Fresh Air! Three Picture Books about Playing Outside reviewed by Pauline Chandler

Choosing bedtime stories for my grandson recently, I was struck by how many picture books are full of rampaging dinosaurs, wild-eyed dragons, monsters and superheroes, all in dazzling primary colours. Very exciting, but not quite conducive to a calm ‘time for bed’!  I’ve noticed, too, that young mums and dads are now thinking that it’s best not to overstimulate little ones, with every bright toy or storybook that comes along.     

May I suggest play in the great outdoors? Soft nature colours, wonderful weather, textures, scents, sounds, fresh air freedom! What could be better for the kids than time free from the adult’s all seeing-eye (or when they think they’re free!), freedom to learn by making their own decisions and solve their own problems. Are there any stories to encourage this? Yes there are!

I had to search hard for them, those outside books, with the kind of soothing ambience that says what a wonderful world it is, stories that celebrate simple pleasures, such playing in a field of dandelions, or collecting eggs from the hens, or messing about in the garden.  

Sandra Horn’s book ‘The Dandelion Wish’ tells just such a gentle story, beautifully illustrated by Louise Warwick.  Out in the fields, Jo and Sam watch the wind blow the dandelion seeds high into the air and when Sam suggests blowing seeds to make a wish, Jo joins him, with magical results. Yes, there’s a dinosaur, pirates and fireworks, but they’re all part of the Dandelion Fair, which arrives and departs like a dream. In the end, ‘Only the night heard a home-going rabbit whistle a rock-a-bye tune.’

This is a lovely story that celebrates outdoor play and the power of a child’s wishing and dreaming.

Kim Lewis’s picture books about country life on the farm, are some of the best.

In ‘Friends’, Sam and Alice go off, on their own, to collect a new-laid egg, but on the way back home, they quarrel and the egg is broken. Both children are deeply upset and think they can’t be friends any more, but when the hen lays another egg, they make up, finding a way to do this by themselves, with children’s innate awareness of what’s fair. Then they find the fresh egg and take it home together.  What lovely pictures illustrate this charming story! Kim Lewis treats us to detailed and realistic images of life on the farm. 

My final choice is ‘The King of Tiny Things’ by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Gwen Millward.

This delightful tale, with more enchanting pictures of the countryside at night, takes us with Chrissy and the narrator on a summer time visit to their grandparent’s house. When the girls camp out in a tent in the garden, they meet all sorts of little creatures on a night-time adventure. There’s so much to enjoy in this story of magic in the dark, with friendly bugs and caterpillars, and the king of tiny things. Children on their own, free, outside and doing stuff! Wonderful!

All three picture books are highly recommended for children aged 5-7.

Pauline Chandler 2014

www.paulinechandler.com

              

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The Blade Itself, reviewed by C.J. Busby

The Blade Itself is written for adults, but it's a book that might also be enjoyed by older teenage readers, especially any who are fans of G.R.R. Martin. I picked it up almost by accident from my sister's shelf while visiting this summer. She is an extremely discerning reader of fantasy and sicfi and I always trust her judgement, so I knew it would be good. But I wasn't prepared for just how good.

The Blade Itself is the first book of a trilogy set in an alternative world but one that is reminiscent of medieval Europe, albeit with a very different history. There are no maps, so my sense that I almost recognised the topography and names (Angland? Midderland? The southern, oriental-type empire called Ghurkul?) added a certain resonance, but also left it all nicely vague. The world is one that has a recognisable kinship with G.R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire - swords, men at arms, politicking, and scepticism about the apparent reappearance of old magic. But it's not derivative - for all the inevitable resonances any epic fantasy has to other epic fantasies all the way back to The Lord of the Rings, Abercrombie's world is original enough to really engage the reader, and what's more important, his writing is cracking.

The story is told from the viewpoint of a number of different characters, and I loved all of them - whether it was bitter, twisted torturer Sand dan Glokta, vain, lazy, aristocratic Lieutenant Jezal dan Luthar, the tough northern barbarian fighter Logan Nine-fingers (also known as the Bloody Nine), the seasoned northern scout, Dogman, or the long-suffering army stalwart, Major West. Each has a distinct voice, and although the threads intertwine, each also has a distinctly interesting journey and their own sub-plots to follow, so I greeted each change of chapter/voice with the sense of excitement of catching up with a really interesting old friend.

But it's not just the characters - Abercrombie's writing is sharp, clever and above all funny. I like my fantasy laced with a decent amount of self-deprecation and deadpan humour, so for me this was the best aspect of the book. Despite some very dark moments, gritty realism and a lot of blood, it also had me laughing out loud in parts. Sand dan Glokta has a nice line in bitter sarcastic humour, while Luthar is unwittingly funny just because he's totally lacking in self-insight. Nine-fingers, as well as having the ability to eviscerate an opponent on autopilot, is master of the one-line put down. There are also some nice moments where Abercrombie subverts the usual fantasy fare - the powerful wizard who's drawn Logan down south turns out not to be the white-beaded old sage standing by the front door, but the person Logan barely glanced at - the stocky butcher with blood half-way up his arms, dissecting an animal in the yard below.

The plot follows a lot of disparate strands, all, like the characters, with their own fascination, and there's an underlying sense that all of them are going to turn out to be interrelated. There is an empire on the move in an unholy alliance with dark magical forces, a conspiracy needing investigation at the heart of the corrupt, class-ridden central Union, a wizard who apparently still lives hundreds of years after he first made an appearance in the Union's mythology, and some violent orc-like creatures overrunning the Union's northern borders. It's a full-scale adventure, and one that's very hard to put down. I had to stop after book two of the trilogy because I had my own pressing writing deadline to make, but as soon as I'm done I'll be diving into the last book.

The Blade Itself is gritty, bloody, and there's a lot of politics to keep up with, so I wouldn't recommend it to those under 16, but there's nothing that would worry the older teenager. There is a lot of swearing. But you probably hear worse on an average secondary school bus...

So, in return for all the great reads we adults have had from YA fiction, here's one that crosses over in the other direction: older teenagers (and adults), I give you Joe Abercrombie. Enjoy!



C. J. Busby writes fantasy for 7-12. Her latest book, Dragon Amber, is out with Templar: the first in the series, Deep Amber, was published in March and has been shortlisted for the Stockton Book Award..

"A rift hopping romp with great charm wit and pace" Frances Hardinge on Deep Amber

www.cjbusby.co.uk

@ceciliabusby

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ROBIN HOOD by David Calcutt and Grahame Baker-Smith. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

"Robin was out hunting in the forest. It was a morning early in the year, cold and still, with frost on the ground and a freezing mist in the air. He was wearing a thick woollen cloak wrapped tightly around his body, its hood pulled down low over his face. The branches were bare and last year's leaves lay thick and deep on the forest floor. They crackled softly beneath his feet as he made his way through the trees."

The first thing to say about this book is that it's a work of art - beautifully written by David Calcutt, and decorated on almost every page with stylish, dramatic illustrations by Grahame Baker-Smith. As well as some terrific double-spread battle scenes (my favourite is the one of Robin Hood and Little John fighting on a bridge) there are decorative borders and leafy overlays and small pictures of woodland animals on nearly every page.

Author David Calcutt's greenwood was inspired by the forests near his home in the West Midlands, and there is a strong sense of place and weather throughout that adds realism and strength to the stories. From the many ballads of Robin Hood he has drawn a selection that makes up a narrative of the outlaw's adventures and life in the greenwood. Each chapter tells a different story and each begins with verses from a traditional ballad. The stories are told simply and the characters use modern speech. There is plenty of action, and a lot of killing of both men and deer. This is true to the original tales, and Robin comes across as a typical folk-hero - bold, boastful and ready for anything, but always on the side of the underdog. All the familiar characters are there: Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and, of course, Robin's arch-enemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham.

In the last chapter, Robin is allowed to disappear into the greenwood, and into legend, keeping the mystery of his end uncertain - though the author hints at a few different versions of his death.

This book is available in paperback and also in a hardback edition. I have not seen the hardback but it is apparently larger and no doubt even more desirable. Either would make a lovely gift for a wide age-range - I'd say around 7-13.

Barefoot Books, 2012.
Paperback ISBN 978-1846867989
Hardback ISBN 978-1846863578





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