On the weekend I had a treat – a new book by Eva Ibbotson! The dragonfly pool is a children’s book set in Europe just before world war two. There are lots of elements in the novel that felt like classic Ibbotson to me. A young heroine who is kind and thoughtful and adored by her family. A wacky school where students are allowed to wear what they want, keep pets in a hut and are taught biology by their mysterious teacher through early morning nature walks. Vividly described settings that range from pre-war London to countryside Devon to an Alpine country. And in the end, good triumphing over evil.

At the danger of sounding like a grump after all of these positives, I was still a little underwhelmed. This wasn’t my favourite Ibboston. In particular, I feel like the main character could have been developed further – at times it seemed like we only had other people’s opinions of how special Tally was rather than being shown it. It would have been good to have felt like this book represented a new and exciting development for the author. But even without this, The dragonfly pool was a lovely summer weekend read.

Tags: books, children's, historical, ibbotson

On the weekend I finished reading Lucy M. Boston's memoirs (collected together in Memories) and she mentioned that Children of Green Knowe was originally going to be published as an adult's book! It was only due to her insistence that the illustrations (done by her son) were included that it was published as a children's book. I found this interesting, as to me it's clearly a children's book. Not only does the book feature a small child, Tolly, as the main character, it takes his POV so firmly that the spirits and shifting times in the story are taken almost for granted. The story revolves around the child-sized world of Tolly and his concerns.

What do other readers of the book think? Would you have published it as an adult book?

Tags: books, boston, children's, fantasy

Wow, long break in writing - we were busy farewelling our houseguests (just in time to prepare for more next week!) but I have no other excuse than sleepiness I’m afraid. Anyway, I’m finally here to write about the visit to the Manor at Hemingford Grey, the house that Green Knowe was based on.

( Green Knowe )

Tags: book, boston, children's, fantasy

Some quick thoughts on books I’ve read recently:

Popco by Scarlett Thomas. Alice is singled out by her large children’s toy company to create a new fad for teenage girls. While trying to understand her new task Alice is also trying to solve the mystery of a locket left to her by her grandfather, a coding genius. Scenes of scary insights into marketing for children are interspersed by Alice’s memory of herself as a young girl and teenager.

There were many great elements to this book but overall I don’t know that it really worked for me. I loved the whole code breaking aspect (I would have been a sucker for the children’s spy kit described in the book), Alice’s teen experiences rang true and there were lots of intriguing side stories. But I think some of the suspense in the book was let down by the various ensuing events. I also wasn’t convinced by Alice’s sudden conversion to understanding the evils of mass marketing/mass meat production etc. But I know other people found the story meaningful, so I might have been a bit hard on old Alice. I think rowana recommended this book to me – thanks Ro!

All seated on the ground by Connie Willis. Aliens have landed on Earth, but they just stand around looking disapproving. This was a fun novella by one of my favourite authors, with Christmas carols playing a large role, so I enjoyed reading it. But I admit I’m glad I hadn’t bought the expensive hardback as a lot of the themes and storytelling methods were reminiscent of other Willis stories and I’m hungry for something new.

Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass- Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog by Ysabeau S. Wilce. Everyone has written about this book extensively over the last year so I won’t write too much (hee, that’s a good excuse isn’t it?). As the wonderful title suggests, Flora Segunda is set in a fantasy world crowded with colourful names and magical beings. Unfortunately things aren’t going so great for Flora – her mum is absent, her dad depressed and the magical butler that is supposed to look after Flora’s house has diminished and the whole place is collapsing around the family. But in the best tradition of a penny dreadful, the plot soon picks up and Flora is having adventures all over the place. I thought it was great fun. At times the characters seemed two-dimensional, but this might have been in comparison to the flamboyant setting and plot. I look forward to reading the sequel!

Tags: books, children's, fantasy, thomas, wilce, willis

OK, my break from blogging about books has resulted in me now wanting to write about lots of books but knowing I won’t have time! And everything has been mad enough this week that I think it’s safest to start with some quick thoughts on a very disparate bunch and write more entries (hopefully!) over the next few days.

First up is The Secret Policeman by Kate Thompson. This Irish children’s fantasy novel won the Guardian’s children book prize and the Whitbread Children's prize in 2005 (hey, better to read it a few years late than never). The secret policeman starts by describing a world that is running out of time. Children don’t have time to relax, adults don’t have time to get everything done, even the school bus is always late despite the best efforts of its driver. Soon it becomes apparent that there are faeries involved. I enjoyed the folklore feel of the novel but didn't really feel overly attached to the characters. One unusual touch, that I assume would be even cooler if I were a musician, is pieces of music at the front of each chapter. Overall, I enjoyed it but wouldn’t have been my first pick for the prizes.

And onto a different type of secret in Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society Girl. This book tells the story of 20 year old Amy, who is unexpectedly tapped for an exclusive secret society of her Ivy League (fictionalised Yale) college and soon faces a range of challenges. The story is fun but not particularly suspenseful in itself - this would be a great holiday read particularly for people who enjoy reading about college experiences as Peterfreund added in lots of background detail. What probably made the book most enjoyable to me was the extreme sarcasm of the main character!

I undestand now why everyone is squeeing about Elizabeth Enright’s The Saturdays and its sequels being in print again. I can see why it became a classic childhood read for so many people. The situation in The Saturdays is something I would have loved as a child: four siblings decide to pool their pocket money so every fourth Saturday one of them will have enough money to go and do something they really want to do. They get to do it alone (this idea alone would have sucked me in, I loved my younger sisters, but a day out without them? So special!) and don’t even have to tell the others what they did. This book was reminiscent of Nesbit without the fantasy, maybe because of the close-knit yet realistic family and the generally old-fashioned feel.

Tags: books, children's, enright, fantasy, peterfreund, thompson

I'm on holidays today! Hurrah! I have to do stuff like wash and iron and pack but I've also fit in buying candle holders and a book from the charity shop (it's for charity!), drinking hot chocolate while reading, watching Veronica Mars and vainly trying to identify a flock of birds in the trees across the road. (OK fog has cleared and I think they're starlings. I recognise one of the most common birds in the UK! I am birding queen!)

A book I finished was Lili Wilkinson's Scatterheart. I ordered this book way back in August when it came out with the intention my sister would bring it with her when she visited in September. As happens, she forgot it and the book spent its time being passed back and forward between people who intended to send it with something else but forgot. But a recent Christmas parcel disgorged the book recently (and what a lovely solid feeling book it is).

This is Lili's first published novel - I have also enjoyed her earlier non-fiction book Joan of Arc. This book tells the story of Hannah, a spoiled rich teenager in early 19th century London who tumbles from fortune's favour and is sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. The story mirrors the classic East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and snippets of the fairytale appear at the start of each chapter. Despite my general propensity to skip over things that aren't immediately related to the story I enjoyed these bits. As you might guess, this means there is plenty of romance and adventure throughout the book. All three parts, London, the ship and Australia, are vividly written. I liked the fact that so much of the book happened on the ship as it helped convey the length of time it took to sail to the colony.

Despite moments of historically accurate horror in the book, Lili wisely didn't stuff the novel full of all the bad things that happened in history, which allowed Hannah's story to feel more realistic. All sections of the book felt well-researched. OK, I'm cheating here as I remember Lili blogging about researching, but I'm sure others would notice it too.

Unfortunately, I don't think Scatterheart is available outside Australia. It's particularly a pity as the Australian setting and transportation story would probably be even more exotic to other nationalities. But if anyone would like a copy, the lovely Abbeys has copies and ships all over the place in a very friendly and efficient manner (can you tell they were able to dispatch books in a hurry for me in the past?).

Tags: books, children's, historical

I'm still revelling in the exciting possibilities of a new library system. Last week I ordered in an old children's book, First house. I reserved it because the author, Pamela Brown, wrote The swish of the curtain and other children-in-the-theatre books that I adored as a child. This one was written in 1959, which is years after the other books of hers I've read (mostly the 1940s) but it doesn't read like it.

It's about a family that moves from London to the countryside to firstly help their ex-actor father avoid a nervous breakdown and also to save money by living in a cheap house and growing vegetables. Various tribulations beset the family as they learn new ways of supporting themselves etc. It seems like the sort of book I'd expect to like: new home, growing things, a family putting on a play - but it just didn't work. The characters weren't very alive and the plot was never fleshed out enough. And the ending felt tacked on.

Nevertheless, it was lovely picking up this old-smelling book and knowing I'm bound to remember other authors with obscure books to check out! And I promise my next book I discuss will be one I loved.

Tags: books, children's

I know I said I was going to restrict myself to one book per book-related post, but I’m a bit pressed for time this evening so thought I’d put two shorter discussions into the one entry.

I am once again showing that it is never too late to blog about a book, as I just found Rick Riordan's The lightning thief through someone's blog. For other similar clueless readers, this is the first in a series about 12 year-old Percy Jackson, who discovers he is only half a mortal – his father is a Greek God. Soon after this realisation Percy is given a quest that takes him across the United States and alternate realities such as the Underworld and Olympus. The fast-paced plot wasn't particularly surprising, but perhaps would be more so to a younger reader. Many different Greek myths are incorporated into the story in a way that was interesting and fairly natural. I can imagine that these books are proving popular with children who love adventure, humour and fantasy.

I’ve also recently read Jo Walton's Tooth and claw, a Victorian novel with dragons. Again, this is not a new book – it won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Jo Walton says in her introductory notes that:

It has to be admitted that a number of core axioms of the Victorian novel are just wrong. People aren’t like that. Women, especially, aren’t like that. This novel is the result of wondering what a world would be like if they were, if the axioms of the sentimental Victorian novel were inescapable laws of biology.

Walton carries out this mission very well as she tells the story of a disputed inheritance amongst a group of siblings and in-laws. Although I was initially looking out for the Victorianisms in the book, I soon fell into the world and started enjoying the story for itself. The plot unfolds in various parts, and the shifts in points of view between various dragons is carried out skilfully. One criticism I had was that the story wrapped up a little too quickly at the end, although perhaps is this a Victorian story characteristic? Additionally, there is a discussion of slavery that I thought was not fully integrated into the story – it seemed a bit superfluous to the rest of the book as it stood. Although this seems to have been published as an adult book, I would think lots of young fantasy fans would enjoy it as well.

Tags: books, children's, fantasy, riordan, walton

Michele has opened up the discussion of this month's book at Scholar's blog. If you have read Terry Pratchett's excellent children's fantasy A hat full of sky, feel free to wander over and add your comments. If you haven't read it, then you should go hunt out the first "Tiffany Aching" book Wee free men and prepare yourself for a treat! Recommended for readers who like clever and funny fantasy.

Tags: books, children's, fantasy, pratchett

I was excited to discover a new Margaret Mahy book this week! OK, it was published in 2005, but it was new to me. Kaitangata twitch is the story of conflict between a developer in a rural area and the long-time resident Skerritt family, as told from the perspective of 12-year old Meredith. Mahy combines the debate about protecting a beloved landscape versus allowing new people to move into the area with a slightly spooky magic that allows Meredith to tap into the unwillingness of the nearby Kaitangata Island to be changed. Mahy’s mix of realism and fantasy is very hard to describe but works well. The semi-rural bayside setting is well described, although it might be my recent trip to New Zealand (including the area Mahy lives in) that gives me an advantage in picturing it! As in other Mahy books the family dynamics are realistic, although I felt the mix of characters was becoming a bit familiar – a flamboyant parent, an outgoing, passionate and noisy older sibling, the insightful younger sibling who seems a bit eager for attention.

One of the reason I love Margaret Mahy’s books so much is that there are always parts that just ring true to me. One example from this book:
…there were times when she raced down the Zigzag with Rufus, times when she tore around Kaitangata, scrambling from one beach to another, leaping, without fear across the rocks. Her short brown hair bobbed around her ears, yet in her mind she was transformed into a cloudy, slender creature whose long tresses flowed behind her in streaks of fire. Sometimes she would come to a halt, balancing gingerly on some pitted ridge of volcanic stone, confused at being two different people in one and the same moment. She knew the picture she had of herself inside her head was nothing like the person who looked back at her from the mirror each morning.

Despite my enjoyment of Kaitangata Twitch, I wonder if it is going to be too short and succinct to appeal to a wide range of readers. I don't mind magic not being explained but know that other people need it to be. If anyone else has read this, please let me know!

UPDATE I've just discoved that Kaitangata Twitch doesn't appear to be in print in the US or UK! This severely undermines the likelihood that any reading this post has actually read the book. I disapprove of the non-publication of books simultaneously around the world!

Tags: books, children's, fantasy