A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby Reviewed by Chitra Soundar

 When I was growing up, I was among the first generation of Indians learning about computers. I loved playing computer games and trying to get hold of gameboys and other gadgets which we couldn't afford. Often borrowed or just watching others do it, it was one of those things that I've always been in the peripherals are. I'm also a child of comic books - India is big on comics and most of the epics I learnt about - more than the stories told at home, I was reading them as comics. 

As a writer visiting schools, I often create workshops around games and stories - where characters can enter the realm of games or into the world of their favourite TV programmes to enthuse those kids who are more into gaming than into reading. 

So when I picked up Aisha Bushby's A Pocketful of Stars, I was so happy to read about the contemporary setup of games and animation stories and the friendship (and rivalries) of girls. But this story took me by surprise - the layers of emotions added into it. From a divorce of parents, to blended heritages, to theatre and drama, the story threads through difficult subjects in realistic and yet magical ways.

Then the magic - the way the game and the reality blends, and how the analogy of the relationship plays out in this game and in real life - this was beautifully done, no doubt, painstakingly crafted. 

The book's emotional punches are never pulled right until the end and when I was reading the last few chapters on a train, I found myself crying on the tube perhaps adding to the myth of "emotional immigrant".  I was so gutted by the end and yet so happy to have read the story and gone on this journey. 

The book is great to read as a class or by children on their own - but beyond the magic and games, the story will offer discussions, perhaps will open pathways of dialogue between friends, between parents and children - about relationships, guilts and our identities. 

If you have not read this book yet, what are you waiting for? 

Listen to Aisha Bushby read a little from this book here. 

---

Chitra Soundar is an internationally published, award-winning author of over 40 books for children. She is also an oral storyteller and writer of theatre and TV for children. Her stories are inspired by folktales from India, Hindu mythology and her travels around the world. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com. Follow her on Twitter @csoundar. 

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A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison, reviewed by Dawn Finch

Image copyright Simon and Schuster

First the blurb...

Three sisters trapped by an ancient curse.

Three magical objects with the power to change their fate.

Will they be enough to break the curse?

Or will they lead the sisters even deeper into danger? ...

Okay, so that's a pretty short blurb, but was more than enough to tempt me into reading this. Covering my tick list pretty efficiently here. An ancient curse, tick. Magical objects, tick. Sisterhood, tick. Danger and adventure, tick.

The only thing that held me back from reading this book sooner was the huge number of superlatives being thrown around in other reviews for it. "Phenomenal", "spellbinding", "brilliant", "breathtaking", "glorious"... the list goes on, and that kind of makes me hold off a bit. I hate being told I'll love something.

The trouble is.... THEY ARE ALL RIGHT!!

This book is absolutely wonderful. It is a perfect example of how to unfold a story. There is exactly the right balance of description and dialogue and every character feels well-rounded and well-placed. The dialogue is natural and at times I was so swept away by the story that I properly lost track of time. I had those wonderful times when I sat down to read and hours later I looked up and found the room in darkness and my tea cold (don't you love it when that happens?!)

I suppose I should give you more detail about the story, but I really don't want to ruin it. The story of the Widdershins sisters doesn't need a longer blurb than the one above and I hate reviews that spoiler. All you need to know is in those few lines above. This fairytale/Grimm type story feels traditional, but with a whole load of new ideas and sparkling adventure. It never veers into stuffy or dull and will make a great novel to read aloud and share. This is exactly the kind of book that you will start reading aloud, and your audience will quickly be sneaking it off to read ahead!

Another thing worth mentioning is the stunning cover of this book. The design is by illustrator Melissa Castrillón and her work also peppers the text with tiny silhouettes and a fantastic map. I love it when a cover acts as a teaser for elements of the story, and this one really does make the book the full package. It makes such a difference when a publisher takes the time to make a book a desirable physical object. Book ownership is an important part of the journey to becoming a lifelong reader, and making printed books a glorious thing to own is vital.

A Pinch of Magic has the quality and feel of a classic children's book, and I hope it will take its place among the best of them.

A Pinch of Magic is written by Michelle Harrison (and illustrated by Melissa Castrillón). It is published by Simon and Schuster.

Review by Dawn Finch, children's author and librarian.

@dawnafinch

www.dawnfinch.com

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THE EEL OF FORTUNE by Sally Prue. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

When Sally Prue's first Class Six book came out, I reviewed it on this blog. A  link to my piece is below. For those who are pressed for time, the main thing about this review is my justification for reviewing a) a book by a friend of mine and b) a book for juniors, not hyped, and not much advertised and which could easily fall below the radar. 

http://awfullybigreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/class-six-and-nits-of-doom-by-sally.html

This is the follow up. The school has lost the wonderful witch Miss Broom..she's been sent away so that the terrible Mrs Knowall, who's keen on being a school governor, doesn't spot that there's magic in this school, doesn't report it to her friend the District Inspector of Schools, and get the school changed or closed down or somehow rendered unmagical. 

The only problem is: the School Fair is coming up. Will Class Six be able to prepare all the magical things that Miss Broom would have been in charge of?  What will Winsome and Anil and the hilarious Rodney do to save the day?

I can't begin to convey how delightful the solutions are. How fun-filled and silly and completely satisfying they are.  The staff at this school consist of a werewolf, a vampire and the head is mermaid who sings sad sea songs. The school secretary is called Jeanie and of course, retires into her lamp when she needs to. Beanstalks grow and giants appear. Barry the eponymous eel helps Miss C Weed tell fortunes. And my favourites of all are the band called The Sirens. 

They are put in charge of drawing in the crowds and of course the crowds are drawn into the Fair in their thousands.  And the song the Sirens sang, in Prue's words: "wasn't exactly singing: the sound was more like someone spin-drying a gibbon."

Prue writes so well. She's so zingy and inventive and the illustrations by Loretta Schauer fit perfectly with this zany and delicious story which every Year Six child will enjoy. And Prue isn't above slipping in a message for parents and educationalists. "Mrs Knowall wants to make this a place where all the children are squeezed into the same shape, so the fat ones can't breathe and the thin ones rattle."

There are numerous delights all through this book. And there are quizzes and bonus bits at the end....what more could you wish for? Buy for your school classroom. Buy for your child....enjoy!

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The Girl Who Drank The Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I intended to review another book for my post today, but once I read the first pages of The Girl Who Drank The Moon, I was side-tracked. Perhaps entranced. 

This fast paced, middle grade fantasy deftly weaves together multiple storylines as a girl brimful of moonlight and magic, an ailing witch, a scar-faced carpenter, a swamp monster poet, a madwoman and a tiny dragon are pit against a magician who cultivates and feeds on sorrow. By the time I finished reading, I felt as if I, too, had swallowed a little starlight. 

Each year, in order to appease the Witch, the youngest baby in the Protectorate is left for her in the forest by the Elders. ‘Sacrifice one or sacrifice all’ say the sorrowful people. Or so they have been led to believe. In fact, the Elders encourage this practice to keep their people frightened, sad and compliant. Yet, this, we learn, is not the full story either. For there is a Witch in the woods, but she is perplexed by the annual baby-leaving rituals. Xan is kind and chooses not to judge. Rather, she takes the abandoned babies and gives them to caring families on the other side of the forest, sustaining them en route with starlight. 

One day, however, Xan makes a mistake. Instead of feeding the latest baby starlight, she feeds her moonlight. “There is magic in starlight, of course. This is well known. Moonlight, however. That is a different story. Moonlight is magic. Ask anyone you know.” 

Xan calls the 'enmagicked' baby Luna, decides to keep her and become her grandmother. Yet as Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, when her magic will flow fully, other forces are at work. A carpenter enters the forest to hunt the Witch and stop the sacrifices. Luna’s mother, driven mad with grief, escapes to find her daughter. Xan goes to rescue the latest abandoned child. Her friends, the swamp monster and tiny dragon, follow Xan, worried about her deteriorating health. Fast-moving to the end, sorrow is defeated and love triumphs.

At one level, this is a gripping story with well-developed, memorable characters. Traditional fairytale motifs are woven inventively into the plot. Yet at another level, the poetic language, the hopeful and wise themes threading through the story hint at something deeper. Madness unlocks a way of discovering nuggets of magic in the world. One generation fills the next with magic as their own gently dwindles. Beyond death, there is nothing to fear. Beyond magic, there exists a oneness from the beginning of the world.

The Girl Who Drank The Moon won the Newbery Medal, 2017.

www.sarahhammond.org

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FOXCRAFT: THE ELDERS by Inbali Iserles; reviewed by Gillian Philip

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE SO AWFULLY BIG REVIEWS IS TAKING A SHORT BREAK. WE'LL BE BACK AGAIN AT THE START OF JANUARY 2017

UNTIL THEN, MUCH HAPPY READING TO YOU ALL, 

AND THANKS TO ALL THE AWFULLY BIG (AND BRILLIANT) REVIEWERS

FOR ALL THEIR POSTS DURING 2016.

Meanwhile, here's Gillian Philip, writing about Inbali Iserles FOXCRAFT series:

I've been looking forward enormously to the second instalment of Inbali Iserles' magical series FOXCRAFT, and from the moment I dived into the first chapter of Book Two, THE ELDERS, I knew the wait had been worth it. It's the kind of story that starts with an earthquake - or at least, the mystical tremor of malinta in the ground beneath Isla's paws - and builds to a spectacular climax. 

When we left her at the end of Book One (THE TAKEN), Isla - a former urban fox whose family were torn from her in a brutal act of violence - was venturing into the unknown Wildlands in search of her lost brother Pirie. She's little more than a cub, but Isla is blessed - or perhaps cursed - with a strong talent for Foxcraft, the magic that enables foxes to vanish, to mimic other creatures, or even to shapeshift. Foxcraft itself is an enthralling and exciting creation - one that is entirely believable to fox-watchers - and Iserles does not flinch from giving her magic a bad side. Like all strong charms, there are negative consequences to using Foxcraft's power, and Isla finds out much more about those  downsides in this breathlessly-paced adventure.

In Book One, Isla managed to shake off the charismatic, artful, but treacherous Siffrin - my favourite character of the series. But as Book Two opens, she is responding to the scream of a fox in distress, and when she runs to his rescue, she soon finds herself reluctantly entangled with another young fox, Haiki. He too is searching for his lost family, and he wants them both to travel together in search of the legendary Elders. Isla is not so sure - but Haiki soon proves a loyal and dependable companion, even if his cowardice sometimes gets the better of him.

Isla and Haiki journey in search of their families through forest, river, cliff and wasteland, and their trials are more than enough to keep a reader on the edge of her seat. They face dogs, coyotes and 'furless' hunters - but their most fearsome enemies have followed Isla since Book One: the Taken, mindless slaves of the sinister and unseen Mage. These menacing, relentless, yet strangely pitiable foxes pursue Isla and Haiki with barely a let-up, and our heroes' escapes are frequent, terrifying and breathtakingly narrow.

Inbali Iserles adds her own beautiful illustrations to the chapter headings 

Iserles writes landscape into life, and populates it with characters who range from endearing to terrifying, but who are always multidimensional and real. The skulk who take in Isla and Haiki at a moment of extreme danger are a family you can instantly love, with all the personalities and conflicts of any family. I loved them all, from the weakling Mox to his grumpy grandmothers, and my heart was in my mouth as the Mage's hench-foxes prowled ever-closer. Two of the family, Tao and Simmi, join Isla and Haiki in their quest to find help and foxcraft-skills from the Elders; as a crisis forces them to set out from the safety of their den, the book begins to climb towards its chilling, thrilling denouement.

Inbali Iserles has created a world of incredible beauty, terror and believable magic. The sheer physicality of the descriptive writing takes the reader directly into the mind and skin of a fox. I could feel the frost on my paws - and that spine-tingling quiver of the earth at the summer malinta, when day and night are in balance. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Isla and Haiki find the Elders at the very moment it matters - but they find much, much more, and not all of it what they hoped for.

In this second instalment we discover more about Foxcraft itself, and about the dreadful Mage and his motives. The horrors of this 'Tailless Seer' are creeping remorselessly across the land, and there is a distinct sense that time is running out for all foxes. 

More happily, I am delighted to say, we meet charming, conflicted Siffrin again.

There are three books in the Foxcraft series. I'm back to waiting, and I'm more impatient than ever. 

Foxcraft: The Elders by Inbali Iserles; Scholastic £5.99

www.gillianphilip.com

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FIRE GIRL by Matt Ralphs: reviewed by Penny Dolan

This magical fantasy - is set in an alternative 1661, supposedly “twelve years after the end of the Witch War”. Cromwell’s merciless Witch Finders have been destroying the witches of England, and the old friendship between ordinary people and the Healers seems to be over. Many witches have become no more than piles of ashes on pyres but some – both good and bad, male and female – remain in hiding or in disguise.

As the start of this story, Nicolas Murrell, the former “King’s Chief Minister of Magic and Witchcraft”, forces his way into the home of blind Mary Applegate, asking for information about Hecate Hooper. He restores the old witch’s sight but only to show her the foul demon Rawhead, a “skinless beast of flesh and sinew”, ready to consume Mary unless she answers . . . 

The outcome will not be good and makes it clear that the writer, Matt Ralphs, will be creating scary scenes and a variety of demons, ghouls and nasty characters for his readers.

Because of this, Fire Girl may not be the best night-time story for the younger pre-teen, but for those who don’t mind good dollops of menacing evil, foul slime and bad magic alongside the heroine’s quest and a creature of sarcastic cuteness, Fire Girl could well be just the right adventure.

The young heroine, red-haired Hazel Hooper, has lived a secluded life in the forest, her home protected by an enchanted hedge. Twelve-year-old Hazel fears she has no witch-like skills but when her mother is abducted, Hazel’s latent power is unleashed. She will be a Wielder, a witch able to generate streams of flame, but for now she is a fire-child, unskilled in managing the powers that surge through her body. Ralphs likens the strong emotion of rage to the dangers of fire: a power that Hazel must learn to control.

Hazel sets off into the world, deciding the best way to find her mother is by employing the services of Titus White, a drunken Witch-Finder and David Drake, his handsome Apprentice. She starts out on  a quest that will lead her to the new master of evil, Nicolas Tyrell himself but unfortunately, along the way, Hazel reveals her magical powers. David, horrified, cannot accept a witch as a friend: he now sees her as a deadly enemy who must be caught. There are now dangers on all sides . . .

The short, fast-paced chapters travel through classic fantasy settings:  deserted cottages, unfriendly towns, unholy fogs and forests, all leading to the malign turrets of Ravenspike castle and spooky church where Tyrell’s foul accomplices gather for the climax: Lilith the pale Frost Witch with her bloated spider, the wizened Petrov, Rawhead and worse. Hazel finds her mother, of course, but the story does not end quite as clearly as Hazel would have wanted . . .

I have emphasised, so far, the scarier aspects of the book, but must add that the mood is often lightened by one particular charming thread: Hazel’s relationship with Bramley, a dormouse who has become her loyal familiar. His grumpy mutterings and remarks coax Hazel through many difficulties and the warm affection between these two brave companions lets the reader know that all will be well, or at least partly all right. 

The final part of the story – or is it? - won’t arrive until Matt Ralph’s sequel, FIREWITCH, which his website suggests will be published in July 2016. 

Ps. An aside: Please be patient if I end with a bit of grumpy muttering - and do note that my complaint is not specifically about this book, which I enjoyed, or this particular publisher. It’s about my reaction to something as a reader.

As a big fan of story (and an occasional storyteller myself) I can’t help feeling disappointed when a book’s ending starts to lead towards a sequel, not to the full rounded conclusion I’m expecting for that particular plot, especially for young readers. 

I know, I know! This niggly response might just be me - and if so, I apologise - but I’ve come across the twist of the “sudden sequel” a couple of times recently and it’s never delighted me, even when the book itself has done. It's almost as if I hear enthusiastic "marketing" voices hiding under the pages

I do wish that, somehow, sometimes, publishers would just let one story “be” before another was so obviously started, rather than this practice of combining the two - or else find a way to indicate this expectation on the cover. 

Harumph! Grump over.

Penny Dolan

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THE NOWHERE EMPORIUM by Ross MacKenzie: reviewed by Gillian Philip

Every town has at least one: that little row of shops that you barely even look at, that you almost forget about till you need a pint of milk late on a Monday. You always think of them behind a haze of grey drizzle – so imagine if you were driving by one day and one of those shops, though built of midnight-black bricks, was suddenly glittering and sparkling in the light. What's more, it's the one that wasn't there before. Because weren't there four shops there yesterday? So how come there are now five?

Ross MacKenzie has created a delicious and fantastical concept in his Nowhere Emporium, a shop that travels through space and time and (much like that other famous Time Machine) is a lot bigger on the inside. In fact, since it's powered by pure imagination, this particular store interior would appear to be limitless. 'Bring Your Imagination!' demands the invitation – presented in glittering fireworks in the sky above the shop – and that is the only price of admission: a little piece of each customer's imagination, and one that will eventually grow back. So where's the harm?

Daniel Holmes isn't sure. An orphan who stumbles upon the Emporium while being chased by bullies from the children's home, he is immediately entranced by both the shop and its owner, the mysterious Lucien Silver. When Silver offers him a job, he barely hesitates; there's no competition between a magical travelling emporium and his grim and loveless life in Glasgow.

All the same, he's the kind of boy who asks questions. Lucien Silver has taken him on (a little reluctantly) because Daniel clearly has gifts, among them a vivid and extensive imagination. So Daniel is dangerously curious about the potential of the shop – where a new room is created for every flight of imagination in a magical book – and about the price required to keep it in existence. Who is Lucien Silver running from? Why is he so afraid, he simply vanishes into thin air one day? And who is the girl who haunts the rooms of the Emporium like a ghost?

There's an abundance of mystery, excitement and magic as Daniel hunts for the answers. Any young hero worth his salt is going to make a few mistakes along the way, and Daniel's errors of judgement have quite terrifying consequences – but there's never any doubt he has the nerve and the determination to see the adventure through. Even when the Emporium itself becomes a crumbling, deadly trap...

In The Nowhere Emporium, Ross MacKenzie provides everything it takes to keep a young reader enthralled – magic, mystery, an intrepid hero, his colourful allies, and – best of all – a chilling and lethal villain. A magnificent cover by Manuel Sumberac is bound to entice the reader: once you're through that cut-out entrance, as with the magical gates of the Emporium itself, there are wonders enough to fire any imagination.

I can't help giving that ordinary little arcade of shops a second glance on my way home, though. After all, it's not as if I'd remember...


The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie; Kelpies, £6.99

www.gillianphilip.com



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Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge - review by Dawn Finch

First the blurb….
When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.
Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late . . .

I was extremely pleased to see this book make it to the shortlist of the Carnegie Award 2015 as I had been looking forward to reading it greatly. One of the things that I enjoy most about Hardinge’s work is that she flamboyantly ignores the current pressure to avoid detailed descriptions. Her books are lavish and descriptive and this allows the reader to be completely absorbed into Hardinge’s extraordinary worlds.

Cuckoo Song is no exception, and I think it is her finest work to date. The book tells the story of a young girl (Triss) who wakes after some kind of mysterious accident. She knows that something is wrong, and something is very different, but she is unable to pin down exactly what has happened. Her sister fears and hates her, and her family are not quite telling everything. Triss is disturbed and upset by this, and when she weeps, she weeps cobwebs…..

This is the start of a rollercoaster adventure through a wild landscape that exists on the edge of the world that others consider to be real.

In a time of fashionable books that are set firmly in the real world, or books of spare content and simplicity, Cuckoo Song feels like a brave book. Its depth and intricacy feel more akin to quality fantasy fiction of the early 20th Century than the 21st, and that’s no bad thing. The imagined world feels close and personal here, and it quickly hooks you and pulls you in. I read it in one sitting as I could not bring myself to put it down. When you come up for air, you feel as if you've been somewhere else, somewhere beyond the rules of what is possible. Days after reading this you are still looking at the world as if something is not quite right with it. There are deliciously chilling moments in this book that remain with you long after you finish it (I can almost still hear the cold china-scrape of the dolls as they move, and see the blue flicker of the cinema screen.....)

Whilst reading this I realised that the book works beautifully when read aloud, and this is something that is hard to find. Not all books make good telling tales, but Cuckoo Song does. The writing is that of a true storyteller, and the world needs more storytellers.

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge is published by Macmillan Children's Books
Isbn - 0330519735
www.franceshardinge.com

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



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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 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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www.spirotta.com

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VERDIGRIS DEEP by Frances Hardinge: reviewed by Gillian Philip

So Frances Hardinge has the coolest style, especially when it comes to hats and gorgeous long coats. I was at the Fantasy WorldCon in Brighton last year when I met her. The convention happened to take place over the Halloween weekend, and Frances was laughing when she turned up one evening, because someone on the street had congratulated her on her Halloween costume. When she wasn't actually wearing one.

Hmm. I don't know; I think there's some kind of sorcery on the simmer here. Verdigris Deep was her second novel, and I picked it almost at random from her Amazon page because I was intrigued by the blurb: One evening, Ryan and his friends steal some coins from a well... Then the well witch appears, with her fountains for eyes and gargled demands. From now on the children must serve her – and the wishes rotting at the bottom of her well.

If you think it sounds as much like horror as fantasy, you'd be right, and yet there are moments of sinister comedy. Who'd have thought shopping trolleys could be sentient creatures of dread and terror? I was completely convinced, and I'll never pass the Tesco trolley stacks again without looking at them askance and wondering if they're watching me.

The witch at the bottom of the well is herself an extraordinary creation, seen initially in Ryan's visions after the three children steal her coins to pay for bus fare. She is introduced stealthily but horrifically: via Ryan's reflection in his own bathroom mirror, or in the eyes of a smiling model on an advertising hoarding. When the witch's true nature is at last revealed, there's something tragic about it despite the horror. She's doing what she was always meant to do, after all; but three twenty-first century children can't possibly have known just how deep a simple wish can go.

Ryan is the terrified, ultimately brave young hero, but his friends Josh and Chelle are if anything even more complex and engaging. All of them go through more changes than the reader expects, and they do so through challenges that are far deeper, darker and more twisted than they (or the reader) could foresee. Their happy expectations of being wish-granting Angels are gradually destroyed by the true natures of the wishes and the people who make them – and, of course, their own. Their peril lies as much within themselves as in the supernatural forces around them.

I never felt confident of a fully happy ending, and I feared most of all for Josh, who begins the story as the arrogant, charismatic leader of their small gang but falls apart, morally and psychologically, with every chapter. That genuine uncertainty is not too common in children's fiction, and it kept me reading into the small hours. (And no, I'm not going to tell you.)

It's a dark, intricate tale of fantastical but convincing danger, and it's written with stylish beauty, too. It's mysterious magic, is what it is.


Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children's Books, 2007), £6.99

www.gillianphilip.com




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Deep Amber by C.J. Busby

Reviewed by Julia Jones

Deep Amber has pace, humour and inventiveness. It's the first volume of a trilogy aimed at 8 – 11 year olds and is also a thoroughly relaxing and pleasurable read for an adult. Things begin to go wrong in Roland Castle when first a pair of swimming goggles, then a camera and finally a scarlet DS arrive unexpectedly. The knights and ladies, servants, squires and student witches are baffled by these unfamiliar objects. Only the Druid in the cellar recognises that they are arrivals from another world and knows that urgent action must be taken. Apprentice witch Dora and kitchen-boy Jem are despatched into the Great Forest to seek advice from the sinister Lord Ravenglass. Meanwhile Simon and Cat living in their great-aunt Irene's house in a gently 21^st century world (with plumbing) begin to notice that things are going missing.

What I love about this book is that it never takes itself too seriously. Yes, there are quests to be undertaken and evil to be defeated but there is nothing portentous or sub-Pullman about the rifts between the worlds. The first Forest Agent that we meet is not a giant spider or a High Elf but a bright blue flying caterpillar called Caractacus.  This is an adventure, the writer seems to say: here are runes and swords and incredibly stupid knights in armour – enjoy! When the bold Sir Bedwyr arrives in Sunset Court Home for the Elderly the first resident he meets is already under the impression that she's Queen Elizabeth I. The rest of the octogenarians take the view that it's "a lot more exciting to prepare for battle than for hot milk and biscuits before bed". They cut the phone wires and lock up the management team with enthusiasm. 

Deep Amber is not all farce: Lord Ravenglass is ambitious and unscrupulous and his agents, Mr Smith and Mr Jones, are dangerously creepy. The child characters are attractive (especially the dopey but talented Dora Puddlefoot) and the adults are variously eccentric, benevolent, protective and fallible. There's a crackle of magic in the atmosphere and a rapidly thickening plot which promises well for the subsequent volumes. I look forward to them.

Deep Amber is published by Templar Publishing at £6.99, currently in paperback only

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Little Witches Bewitched, by Rhiannon Lassiter. Reviewed by Cathy Butler

Ever since Mildred Hubble first entered the portals of Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches in Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch (1974), and no doubt for some centuries before that, the idea of being a witch has had a strong appeal for young girls. In a world where, both as children and as females, they might seem to have been dealt a particularly powerless hand, witchcraft offers a way to leapfrog their elders and brothers into a position of wielding secret power over people and things. With female superheroes still a rarity, the witch remains one of the few figures through which such desires can be played out. No wonder it remains the costume of choice for Trick-or-Treaters. 

To indulge the fantasy of power without responsibility is however a dubious prospect for those who wish children’s books to educate, or at any rate not deprave, their readers. It’s also a poor formula for fiction in general, which thrives on difficulty and conflict. Witches must encounter problems that are hard to solve, even with the aid of magic, and the best writers in this tradition are careful in defining the rules of the game. 

The latest contribution to this genre is Rhiannon Lassiter’s clever and engaging book, Little Witches Bewitched. Lassiter knows this territory well, and she is ingenious in her navigation of it in the five stories that make up this volume about two young girls, Dulcie and Verity, whose Halloween encounter with a witch leaves them with magical powers of their own. The two are very different characters: Dulcie, a privileged only child whose indulgent grandfather owns a castle, might not have encountered Verity, a far less confident girl used being dominated by her older sisters, had it not been for their accidental meeting during a Trick-or-Treating session, but they become allies and best friends with a speed of which only young girls are capable. During their first adventure they attempt to undo the spell that has turned them into witches, but manage only to reverse the spells that tranformed Verity’s sisters and Dulcie’s nanny into an Arabian prince, a fairy and a Snow Queen respectively at the same time. While the supporting cast forget their metamorphoses, Verity and Dulcie look forward to new adventure – with a confidence fully justified by events.

Along the way, the girls pick up male companions in the form of a ghost (borrowed from Dulcie’s grandfather) and a witch’s cat, and even indulge in a little time travel to the Elizabethan age. Perhaps my favourite joke is Shakespeare’s complaint that he is always being bothered by travellers from the future, but while such throwaway lines are there to be appreciated by adult readers the book is aimed squarely at Dulcie and Verity’s contemporaries. The girls are fascinated and excited by magic, but they know that it is only one element of their lives, to be balanced against the demands of family and friendship. Enchantment is likely to elude books that are in a perpetual state of fluster about magic, but it flees too from those that are too blasé. Little Witches Bewitched strikes a happy middle course, and I look forward to reading about Dulcie and Verity’s future adventures in practical magic.

Little Witches Bewitched by Rhiannon Lassiter
Published by Babel Library: £5.97 
ISBN: 1493661140
ISBN-13: 978-1493661145
Also available on Kindle: £4.99

Cathy Butler's latest book is Twisted Winter (A&C Black, 2013) - "A chilling collection of terrifying winter tales for the darkest nights."

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