Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem reviewed by Julia Jones

If you love books about the ballet (suffer from enduring nostalgia for Noel Streatfield for instance?) as well relishing thrillers and the murky history of modern Russia, then you may already have come across these two YA novels by Elizabeth Kiem. I've read them in the wrong order: first Hider, Seeker, Secret Keeper (published 2014) which I reviewed for the Bookbag and now the first volume, Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy (2013). Dancer, Daughter focuses on seventeen year old Marina Dukovskaya whose mother, Svetlana, has been principal ballerina at the iconic Bolshoi Ballet for a decade and is now a National Treasure, a Soviet Cultural icon – a key Soviet asset in the celebrity Cold War.

Or is she? The story begins in Moscow, November 1982 on the day of Leonid Brezhnev's death. Aspirant ballerina Marina is, as usual, measuring out her day with a precise number of tendus, frappes and fouettes, in the advanced repertory academy where she and the other stars of the future are distorting their feet and bloodying their toes to learn their trade. Her mind is mainly full of the forthcoming results of a pop music competition and she ignores veiled hints about possible defections and the jealousy of her class mates for her gorgeous new coat, a gift, naturally, for her mother. Marina works hard for her art but takes her life of privilege for granted. On this night, however, the TV First Channel replaces its regular programmes with a film of the Bolshoi's Swan Lake. There are no explanations, no national news or results from the music competition – and Svetlana Dukovskaya doesn't come home.

Two days later Marina and her father learn that Svetlana has been institutionalised. She has apparently suffered a breakdown and has been taken into custody by the State Psychiatric Directorate. Marina's father, a scientist, makes puzzling comments about bacterial warfare and uses the word 'escape'. The word hits Marina like an electric shock or 'the jolt up your spine when you land a jump poorly […] My parents wanted to abandon the Motherland. And they were calling it “escape”?' The following day they get a call from the director of the Bolshoi – Marina has been dismissed. Her father is taken in for questioning, though he is then released. On the day of Brezhnev's funeral, they flee to America. 'I understand the system […] The rules are: if you pose a problem for the Party, if you are a risk to the People, you must be dispensed with. So we are following the rules. We are dispensing of ourselves before the KGB can do it for us.'

Elizabeth Kiem is a former dancer and a Russophile. She's a journalist who has lived in Russia and who acknowledges real life sources for much of her material. I wondered, briefly, what today's teens would make of this harking back to the post-Stalinist era before I realised that the writing in this first section of the novel – actions taken within a world bound by draconian, incomprehensible Rules – works particularly well as it is writing from within a dystopia. The subsequent, main section, following Marina and her father's attempts to make sense of their situation within the Russian emigrant population of Brooklyn, is atmospheric but more confusing as the hostile forces could equally be KGB, CIA, the bratva (Russian Mafia) – or none of them.

Dancer, Daughter has a twisting plot, where Marina's actions and reactions are as often fuelled by her teenage anger and disorientation as by tangible external threat. I wasn't sure she was quite as convincing a heroine as Lana, her daughter, in volume two and I wasn't sure that the integration of the actual dancing worked as successfully as the interpretations of Stravinky's Danse Sacrale in Hider, Seeker, Secret Keeper. I'd certainly recommend both novels – but I'd probably suggest that you read them the right way round.

Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy & Hider, Seeker, Secret Keeper by Elizabeth Kiem are both published by Soho Teens. 

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

BLUE MOON DAY by Anne Fine Reviewed by Adèle Geras

Yet again, I confess, I am reviewing a book by a friend of mine. This time I have a good excuse. It gives me a chance to highlight the many things about short stories which make them an excellent choice of reading matter for young people. For older people too,  if it comes to that, but by the time you've left school, you'll probably have decided whether it's a form you can cope with or not.

Many people are annoyed by short stories. They feel somehow let down by brevity. They think that there's no way that a short story can satisfy in the way a novel can. I think they're wrong, but then I've always loved short stories, both to read and to write.

The best examples are like small stones thrown into a pond. They strike the water and then the rings spread out and out. So you read something by Chekov, or Somerset Maugham, or Raymond Carver, or   MR James or a host of other writers and the echoes and possibilities and resonances fill your head and go on  reverberating in your mind for a long time after you've finished reading.

Fine has chosen a framing device for her stories, which are all about children in institutions:  various sorts of boarding school, a school for the blind and visually impaired, and even an educational unit for young offenders. It starts with a girl who really, really does not want to go to her own day school that morning having what she calls a Blue Moon Day (because it happens so rarely) and bunking off. However a condition of not going is that she has to go about in the car while her mother, a caregiver, goes from house to house seeing many different kinds of people. To pass the time while she's waiting, she reads the stories in a book called Away from Home, and we read the tales with her, one after another.

I speak as someone who was very happy indeed at my boarding school,  (Roedean School in Brighton) for eight years. And though I wouldn't dream of sending any child of mine to one, I can see several advantages. The most important of these, for me at any rate, was the extraordinarily high standard of the actual education. I am still enormously grateful to my teachers. I also made friends there, and  I'm still in touch with some of them. I don't recollect any serious bullying. Maybe I went round with my eyes shut but I don't think so. Girls could be spiteful. I was made miserable by several people on several occasions but nothing too traumatic.  Fine, too, in  depicting such places as they really are NOW does not resort to any of the old boys'  school  clichés of people having their heads stuck down a lavatory, and other such horrors. Her stories are much more modern than that, and even children who go to day school will recognise that they have a great deal in common with Fine's protagonists.

But this framing story does have its bleak moments, not only when we learn about the people being cared for, but also in our heroine's recounting of her family circumstances. The ending is hopeful, however, and along the way the  young reader will have been introduced to institutions and teachers that might very well make him or her look at their own school with fresh eyes.

The eccentricity of teachers is on display throughout and makes for a good deal of comedy along the way. The writing is elegant and crisp throughout. Heartstrings are pulled with no trace of sentimentality. I think readers of this book, whether they go to boarding school or not, will love it for the light it sheds on an experience which can be painful for many children.  If you're a teacher,  buy a copy for your class library and if you have a school -age child, it's required reading which you as an adult will also enjoy.

A final sad note:  the book is dedicated to Frances, whom I also knew and who used to teach at Roedean, long after I left it. She  died recently and this book would have made her very proud and happy.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

ONE OF US by Jeannie Waudby

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

This is a timely book, about terrorism and taking sides.  It’s about prejudice and the danger of judging a whole section of society by the actions of a few.   And what it’s like to be hated because of who you are.

After surviving a terrorist bombing, K Child is full of antagonism towards those who carried out the attack – the Brotherhood.  When the enigmatic Oskar asks her to infiltrate the Brotherhood by attending their top boarding school to seek out extremists, she finds herself agreeing.  After winning her trust, Oskar gives her a completely new identity, a new set of Brotherhood clothes – and leaves her alone at the Brotherhood school gates.

At first K is terrified.  She is not only a stranger here, but a spy.  But no one seems to notice and, not only that, the people she meets are friendly.  They’re ordinary, like her.  For the first time in her lonely life, she is surrounded by people who care about her.  More than that, she’s falling in love.

At the same time, she begins to have doubts about Oskar and his true motives.  Then she witnesses the sharp end of the hatred citizens have for the Brotherhood – the same hatred she felt towards them on the day of the bombing.  But they are not all like that.

Can the two sides ever be reconciled?  This is the aim of the government, but, as K is drawn further into a web of deceit and anger, it seems increasingly unlikely – especially as K comes to realise the true horror of what Oskar wants of her. 

One thing we never learn is what the Brotherhood actually believe in.  They have longer names and wear slightly different clothes, but their doctrines remain elusive – they are hated because they are Brotherhood, but no one seems to know why.  As K learns, we are all the same – and there are people on both sides who advocate violence.

This is an exciting read, with romance and danger in equal measure.  It’s part thriller, part love-story, but all page-turner.  I can recommend it for younger teens.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Pioneer Girl, The Annotated Autobiography, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

Laura Ingalls Wilder turned me into a reader.  Her Little House books were worth the effort that reading was to me at that time.  It’s not too strong to say that I loved Laura, and still do. 

So it was with some trepidation that I approached Pioneer Girl because I knew that this book would expose the ‘real’ Laura.  Would that spoil the Laura I thought I knew?  No.  It makes her even more human and fascinating!

Laura’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, was a very well regarded journalist and novelist by 1929 when the economic Crash hit America.  Laura was in her sixties.  It was Rose’s suggestion that her mother should write down memories and stories from her pioneer family past, and that might raise much-needed money.  At that stage, those memories were intended for an adult audience.  So Laura got to work, writing freehand in school exercise books.  She called the work Pioneer Girl, and in the text we get much that is familiar from the fictionalised stories we already know, but more stories, much of it bleak or shocking stuff. 

The Ingalls family had already illegally tried to land-grab territory belonging to Indians before the events of Little House In The Big Woods begins.  There’s a moment when Pa packed them all into the wagon to do a midnight flit from a place where he owed money.  We learn about baby Freddy, born between Carrie and Grace, who died aged nine months.  During the desperate Long Winter when food and fuel was so scarce they burned twisted hay and risked lives in order to get more grain, the Ingalls family had another family living with them.  A young couple, keen to get away because they knew their baby was due rather too soon for decency after their marriage, landed on the Ingalls’ and got snowed in.  Ma acted midwife.  Through those desperate months, the young couple hogged the place by the stove and did nothing to help!  And, would you believe it, it was Cap Garland who Laura fancied more than she did Almanzo for quite some time!  (Actually, I think I’d sensed that all along …!)  There are more surprises to find.

We are treated to photographs of many of the people who appear in the stories, and given brief histories of what happened to them.  Arch enemy Nellie Olsen is actually an amalgamation of three girls who Laura disliked for different reasons over the years! 

We see how the stories were tidied-up and shaped for a child audience.  The back and forth editing process between mother and daughter is alternately funny and heartbreaking. 

But Laura comes through, intact as the Laura we already know, but with added grit and humour and stubbornness, and we find that other members of her family are of course more complex than their fictional counterparts.

This book is a clever production.  It never bores with its footnotes.  It’s a handsome big book, and a great treat to read … and I know that I’ll re-read it before too long.  Thank you, Laura!

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

"Succession" by Livi Michael reviewed by Pauline Chandler

Set during the tumultuous Wars of the Roses, “Succession” combines the stories of two Tudor women, royal wives and mothers, two Margarets, both used

as pawns by powerful marriage brokers, in the intricate game of politics around the English throne.

The prologue of the novel prefaces much of what is to come, touching on several of its themes. Margaret Beaufort is remembering a time, when as a four-year old child, she wandered, lost and terrified, down the long corridors of the strange house she has been brought to, the home of her new guardian, the Duke of Suffolk, and meets him by chance for the first time.  She already knows it is shameful to cry, except in penitence, and that she is female and therefore subject to a man’s control, but what she also remembers is that the Duke spoke to her about the courage and determination of a woman, the warrior Joan of Arc, whom he greatly admired.  She remembers too how the Duke met a terrible end, condemned as a traitor and savagely beheaded.  She herself is a rich heiress and mother to the future king, Henry VII.

We next meet Margaret of Anjou, the French king’s niece, who has been brought to England to marry Henry VI, in a union that should ensure closer links with France, but, as Suffolk knows, the bride brings no dowry and the match has cost England valuable French territories.  Henry himself has insisted on the match. He is weak and malleable, and as Margaret soon discovers, he is not inclined to consummate the marriage. To the earls and power brokers of the English court, a secure and stable succession is paramount. If Henry has no children, who will succeed him?  The stage is set for fascinating but terrible power games, in violent times, where torture and death are commonplace.     

This is a complex period in history, handled expertly and with conviction by Livi Michael who creates an intensely engaging narrative. The author deals with her subject in an unusual way, by interspersing her fictional scenes with material from contemporary primary sources: eye witness accounts and the testimony of medieval chroniclers. Underpinned by meticulous research, the stories of the two Margarets are vividly brought to life in beautifully described settings. I should like to thank the author for guiding me kindly through this complex period of our history.

Pauline Chandler

www.paulinechandler@virgin.net

Pauline’s latest book, "Warrior Girl", historical fiction for young adults, tells the story of Joan of Arc, alongside that of her cousin, Mariane, who has her own battle to fight. A new edition of “Warrior Girl” is pubished by Cybermouse Books.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

MARS EVACUEES by Sophia McDougal - reviewed by Cecilia Busby

"When the polar ice advanced as far as Nottingham, my school was closed and I was evacuated to Mars."

I'm a great fan of science fiction, and it's cheering to see proper sci fi (as opposed to its disguised cousin 'dystopian fiction') starting to appear once again in children's books. Sophia McDougal's MARS EVACUEES is unquestionably proper science fiction, and what's more it's clearly aimed at pulling a few more girls into the genre, or at least giving those that are there already some decent role models. McDougal's heroine, Alice Dare ('Alistair? Funny name for a girl', is the inevitable comment from anyone who asks her name...) is the daughter of an ace female fighter pilot, whose success rate in the war against the invisible aliens who have invaded Earth is legendary. The aliens - the Morror - are using technology to alter the earth's temperature so it becomes more suited to their physiology: hence the encroaching ice sheet that causes Alice, and 300 other children from important families, to be sent to Mars. But Mars is only in the early stages of being terraformed and the station where they arrive is in the middle of a dangerous wilderness.

Alice rapidly makes friends with a rather odd-ball girl called Josephine. Clever, musical, unconventional, she is the target of bullying from some of the more preppy kids and the two form an alliance, which becomes even more important when the adults disappear and the children have to fend for themselves, along with some cheerful robots who zip around after them and continue to insist that the kids learn English grammar and quadratic equations while they hunt each other, 'Lord of the Flies'-style, around the station. Eventually, Alice, Josephine and two Philippino-Australian brothers, Carl and Noel, escape, but heading out in the wilds of Mars with only a fish-shaped educational robot to help them may not be the smartest move they could have made, and the Mars wilderness turns out to be not so devoid of life as the human colonists had supposed....

I really enjoyed this book - it has fabulous characters, edge-of-the-seat suspense, and some big themes - family, friendship, love, betrayal, war, forgiveness, aliens and the importance of duct tape. Thoroughly recommended for boys and girls in the classic 9-12 bracket, and fun for older readers too!

(And for those among you with access to technological wizardry, there's even a space-fighter training app to go with the book, which you can download free from i-tunes here or Play here). 

Cecilia Busby writes fantasy adventures for children aged 7-12 as C.J. Busby. Her latest book, Dragon Amber, was published in September by Templar.

www.cjbusby.co.uk

@ceciliabusby

"Great fun - made me chortle!" (Diana Wynne Jones on Frogspell)

"A rift-hoping romp with great wit, charm and pace" (Frances Hardinge on Deep Amber)

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Marsh Road Mysteries: Diamonds And Daggers, by Elen Caldecott. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title: Marsh Road Mysteries: Diamonds And Daggers
Author: Elen Caldecott
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 5 February 2015


I have always loved a good detective story and, as a child, read Enid Blyton and Malcolm Saville's various whodunnits several times over. It wasn't just the sleuthing that attracted me to these books but also the caramaderie of the participants and the feeling that, by reading the stories, I became an unofficial member of the club.

Elen Caldecott's first book in The Marsh Road Mysteries series evokes the same strong feelings but brings a sassy and urban vibe to the genre. Here are five juvenile detectives that reflect the socio-cultural zeitgeist: Piotr, Minnie, Flora, Andrew and Sylvie.  They live in an inncer-city environment of shops, cafes, markets stalls, lock-ups  - and a theatre.  It's the theatre that provides the backdrop to their first adventure.

A world-megastar called Betty Massino has come to Marsh Road to star in a play. A thief makes off with her hugely expensive diamond necklace and Piotr's dad, who works as the security manager at the theatre, is the main suspect. He's so distraught by the accusation that he decides to take his family back to Poland. Which means that the fabulous five have a very short time frame in which to find the real cuplrit and prove his innocence.

The story is a breathless pageturner with an ending that will have you cheking amazon to find when the next installment of the Marsh Road Mysteries is due.

Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

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






Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Trouble on Cable Street, by Joan Lingard: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

Anyone who was teaching English in the late 70s/early 80s - and probably after that - will remember the name of Joan Lingard. She wrote Across the Barricades, a sort of Romeo and Juliet set in Belfast during the Troubles. Kevin is Catholic and Sadie is Protestant: they really shouldn't fall in love, but they do. It worked really well in schools: the story was gripping, it dealt with emotions deeply relevant to teenagers, and there was lots to discuss and tease out - so thank you for that, Joan Lingard!

She is still writing, and her latest book is set in the east end of London in 1936. It's an unusual combination; from Dickens on, there have been lots of books set in Victorian London featuring the lives of the working class, and there are plenty set against the background of the Blitz - but I can't think of many set in this particular time and place. Trouble on Cable Street concerns Isabella, whose mother is Spanish. She has two brothers. One has chosen to fight in the Spanish Civil War for the Republicans: the other, by contrast, is attracted by Oswald Mosley's increasingly powerful Fascist movement in London.

The story sheds an interesting light on a turbulent and not particularly well-known period. We know now that fascism in England was a dead end; but it's important to remember that they didn't know that at the time. It must have been very frightening to see the Blackshirts marching through the streets and to witness the riots and the rabble-rousing speeches, particularly if, like Isabella, your mother was a foreigner and you worked for a Jewish factory owner. Isabella senses for herself the charismatic power of fascism in the person of her brother Arthur's friend, Rupert; she distrusts him, but she sees his power - and his good looks. The people she loves are in very real danger, from several different directions. By the end, no-one is left unscarred. 

The book tells us a great deal about the political state of Europe in the years leading up to the war, and it makes us feel what it must have been like to be on the streets of London in the path of a fascist demonstration. It also resonates with the present climate, where extremists whip up hatred, immigrants provide easy scapegoats, and cities have once again been scarred by riots. But at the centre of it is Isabella, strong and warm-hearted, who must negotiate a path through the danger and uncertainty and decide, as we all must do, where to place her trust and her love.

(This review first appeared on my own blog, A Fool on a Hill.)

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf, by Curtis Jobling; reviewed by Gillian Philip

What are you looking for when you pick up a fantasy novel? Because in Rise of the Wolf, the first in Curtis Jobling’s six-book Wereworld series, he pretty much covers all the bases for me. Young hero discovering a greater destiny than he ever imagined? Check. Exile, pursuit and deadly peril? Check. Stakes as high as you could wish for? Check. Nobility in the face of bad guys whose villainy makes you clench your jaws even as you read? Check. Attractive antiheroes who wait till the last possible moment to reveal their true natures? Oh, check.

Drew is a young farm boy living a hard, but on balance happy life with his family on the dreich Cold Coast of Lyssia; he’s good with the animals, so he’s unsettled one night when the sheep are skittish and scared around him (to the point of one ram going over a cliff rather than be rounded up). There has to be something bad in the vicinity, right? Drew suspects there’s a monstrous presence near the farm, and all his fears seem confirmed when something horrific invades his house that night, attacking his mother. The creature is the stuff of nightmares - this has to be what terrified the livestock, and now it’s come for Drew’s family.

But then the horror and the terror spark something inside Drew himself, and he feels a shocking change overtake him…

When his father and brother return from market and find a scene of carnage, they (understandably) misconstrue the situation. Fleeing his home, wracked by grief and shock, Drew escapes to the Dyrewood. And there he might remain for the rest of his life, turning more animalistic with the passing months, but for a chance encounter with the scouts of Duke Bergan the werelord…

From the moment Drew is dragged (almost literally) back to Duke Bergan’s stronghold, the story takes on a breathtaking momentum. Captivity in the Bear Lord’s castle is the least of his problems, as rapidly becomes clear when the troops of the King, Leopold the Werelion, arrive to take him into custody. The extent of the monarch’s cruelty and oppression is made very clear in a few harrowing pages, and the reader is very quickly rooting for Drew and his new allies and friends to escape and win out - but also for the overthrow of a king who may have come to the throne through very foul means indeed.

Curtis Jobling draws the world of Lyssia so vividly you can taste the air and smell the blood on the battlefield. Each danger that Drew overcomes seems to lead only to another, worse threat, bringing him finally to the stronghold of the vicious and tyrannical Leopold - and you’re rooting for him all the way. Rise of the Wolf is a thrilling page turner, piling adventure on adventure. But there’s mystery and (perhaps?) budding romance in the mix, too, as Jobling weaves in the history of the werelords, the secret of Drew’s origins, and two flinty but appealing heroines. 

The concept of the werelords is a wonderful one, bringing a new and enthralling dimension to the classic Hero’s Quest. There aren’t just werewolves and werelions in this universe: there are werestags, werebadgers, weresharks and more, and there’s huge fun in seeing how their bestial natures affect the human side of the characters (especially the wereboars and their reaction to a plate of pork stew). There can’t be many child readers who could resist this heady blend of thrills, peril, friendship, monsters and thoroughly impressive werelords. The whole series is published, so you don’t even have to wait between episodes. I for one can’t wait to find out Which Were Wins…

Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling; Puffin, £5.99

www.gillianphilip.com

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone - Reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

There is a magic, old and true, that shadowed minds seek to undo...

Twelve year old Moll Pecksniff has always known she was different from her gipsy family. There's the dream for a start - a recurring nightmare that drags her sleeping body into the Deepwood. And having her very own wildcat protector, Gryff - that's not normal either. But it isn't until Moll dares to cross the river and venture into Skull's camp that she discovers how different she is. And the mortal danger she is in...

The Dreamsnatcher starts with a dark ritual that had me on the edge of my seat, hand on mouth, and that was where I stayed for the entirety of the book. It's a breathless adventure incorporating black magic and evil deeds and heart-stopping bravery, with one of the most memorable baddies I've met for quite some time. I loved the wild feel to Moll's nature, the way that this is reflected in both her relationship with Gryff and with the woods around her. The story has a timeless quality too: it could be here - now - tucked away in the deep woods that still cover parts of our country. Or it could be five hundred years ago, or even another world entirely. I wanted to walk with Moll through the Ancientwood, Gryff at my side, unravelling riddles. And on the subject of Gryff, I rather wish I'd dreamed him up myself because who wouldn't want their very own wildcat? I also enjoyed the strong family feel to the story too; even though Moll has no direct relatives, she never really feels alone.

The character of Alfie, the mysterious boy Moll encounters in the Deepwood, had me intrigued and I'm looking forward to finding out where his story leads in the next book in the series. Overall, I thought The Dreamsnatcher was an accomplished, fabulous debut - a standout story perfect for readers aged 9+.

The witchdoctor will see you now...

The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone, published by Simon and Schuster, out 26th February 2015




Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Ms Marvel Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona. Reviewed by Cavan Scott

It isn't hard to see why Marvel's new eponymous hero was the breakout comic hit of 2014. And I'm going to say it right now - Ms. Marvel is the freshest super-kid on the block since the Amazing Spider-Man himself.

Like Peter Parker before her,  Kamala Khan has enough to deal with before she receives super-powers. The daughter of strict Muslim parents, Kamala struggles to fit in with her friends and just wants to be herself, even if that's an awkward 16-year-old who is happiest writing Avengers fan-fiction.

Disobeying her parents, Kamala sneaks out to a party only to get caught in a mysterious fog. Overcome by the mist, she hallucinates a visit from the Avengers and wishes she could become Ms. Marvel, complete with the super-heroine's traditionally inappropriate outfit.

When the fog clears, Kamala awakes to find that her wish has come true. Suddenly, she is white, blonde, statuesque and wearing a revealing costume. Gulp! Her parents are going to kill her!

It turns out that Kamala has become a shape-shifter, able to take other people's form and stretch, grow and shrink on demand. Returning to her original 16-year-old form, Kamala has to piece her life back together - and try to work out how to save the world without getting grounded!

Collecting the first five issues of the series, Ms. Marvel is funny, action-packed and full of heart. G. Willow Wilson's streetwise script sparkles, perfectly realised by Adrian Alphona's dynamic art. And you'll be pleased to know that the spray-on, body-hugging costumes soon disappear! In Ms. Marvel, the house of ideas has produced an exciting new role model for young comic fans.

And for older comic fans too, for that matter.

Cavan Scott

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Outlaw Pete by Bruce Springsteen and Frank Caruso reviewed by Lynda Waterhouse

THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN’S BOOK! Although you will probably find it as I did on the shelves in the children’s section. Be warned that it contains violent images that are not aimed at very young children. Inside it describes itself as an adult book and as Bruce Springsteen says in the Afterword it is partly inspired by a bedtime story ‘Brave Cowboy Bill’ that his Mom used to tell him. He also says ‘I’m not sure this is a children’s book, though I believe children instinctively understand passion and tragedy. And, a six- month-old bank-robbing baby is a pretty good protagonist.’ Frank Caruso’s cartoon style illustration of baby Pete is indeed appealing to young children but in later spreads Pete grows up and the mood shifts making it more appropriate for young adults.

I was initially drawn to this book because I am a fan of Bruce Springsteen. Although my heart did sink as I thought ‘not another celebrity doing the children’s book thang.’ This is not the case here.

The story began as a song on The Working on a Dream album. This song inspired the illustrator Frank Caruso. He was drawn to the character of Outlaw Pete and the deeper meaning that lay beneath the story of the little baby born on the Appalachian Trail who robs a bank in his diapers and goes on to cut ‘a trail of tears across the countryside.’ One night he wakes from a vison of his own death and rides off deep into the West where he marries and has a child. However Bounty Hunter Dan is on his tail. There is a tragic showdown and Dan’s last words are ‘We cannot undo these things we’ve done.’

Pete rides for forty days and forty nights until he reaches the edge of a cliff…

As Springsteen says ‘Outlaw Pete is essentially the story of a man trying to outlive and outlast his sins. He’s challenging fate by trying to outrun his poisons, his toxicity. Of course you can’t do that. Where we go, they go. You can only learn to live with it. How well or poorly we do that gauges how much grace we can bring into our lives along with our level of fortitude in body and soul.’ That surely is a story worth the telling.

ISBN 978-1-47-114279-6 published by Simon and Schuster

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

THE FROZEN THAMES by Helen Humphreys. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

"The hare is set upon the ice. Here, it does not have the shelter of the field, cannot dash between furrow and stubble, use its colours to try to match the colours of the earth. Here, it is quick brown against this long, white river. There is nowhere for it to hide or escape."

This beautiful book is a collection of vignettes about people - both royal and commoners - who lived near the Thames during the forty times that it froze between 1142 and 1895.

These are mostly glimpses of everyday life: of icy bedrooms, frozen ale, ink frozen in inkwells. A young couple become aware of how their living space has shrunk to a huddle around the fireplace. A carter gently and patiently persuades his reluctant pair of oxen to venture onto the ice. There are frost fairs and skating contests. Watermen lose their livelihoods. A boy and his mother attempt a perilous crossing on melting ice. And birds fall frozen from the sky. My favourite story is one about a miller's son who comes upon a field full of frozen birds and revives them by warming them with his hands and breath.

This is an appropriate seasonal read: a small hardback book, beautifully written and produced, and illustrated with reproductions of old paintings. The scenes of activity on the frozen river are fascinating in their detail.

It's not a children's book, though some older children and teens might enjoy it. It is a rich source of information about life in the past during periods of extreme cold. The author has drawn on many contemporary accounts, and most of the stories are based on documented events.


The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys, Union Books, h/b, 2007.


www.annturnbull.com






Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick - review by Dawn Finch

The spiral has existed as long as time has existed.
It's there when a girl walks through the forest, the moist green air clinging to her skin. There centuries later in a pleasant greendale, hiding the treacherous waters of Golden Beck that take Anna, who they call a witch. There on the other side of the world as a mad poet watches the waves and knows the horrors the hide, and far into the future as Keir Bowman realises his destiny.
Each takes their next step in life. None will ever go back to the same place. And so, their journeys begin...

I should declare a bias before you read the rest of this review - I'm a massive fan of Sedgwick's work and have read all of his books and so I was looking forward to reading Ghosts very much. I was aware that it was a different format to his other books and I was looking forward to something new. I was not disappointed.

Ghosts of Heaven is split into four parts; four different stories interconnected by various key elements and a theme inspired by the occurrence of the spiral form. The remarkable thing about these stories is that we are encouraged by the author to read them in any order we like. I read them in the order 4, 1, 3, 2 - and was thrilled to find that the seeds of other stories are sewn in each chapter. It really is extraordinarily accomplished to make all of these stories connect in such a subtle and fluid fashion. I've certainly never read anything like it.

But it's not just clever, it's beautiful too. Each section has its own tone and voice, and is written with Sedgwick's usual deft hand. To be honest I could have read a novel based on each and every story and been wholly satisfied. Each chapter represents a very fine piece of writing alone, and the fact that they curve and spiral around each other is utterly fascinating.

However, it did raise an issue with me that I have often been baffled with. This book is listed as a YA title and yet almost all of the central characters are adults facing adult situations. The two younger characters are based in a time period when there are no "young adults" and so they behave as adults to adult situations. I am often puzzled as to why a book is marketed as YA when it is clearly an adult book. Don't get me wrong - I do think that young adults will love this book, but the type of young adult who will enjoy it will also be the type of reader who is already reading adult books. I feel that by listing it as YA there will be a lot of adults who will remain completely unaware of the existence of this book, and they will miss out. I strongly feel that Sedgwick deserves a much wider audience, and this is perfect example of a wonderful book that might not get into mainstream adult reviews and magazines simply because it's marketed as YA. I genuinely don't understand adults who lock themselves into a place where they don't read YA books. That is a great shame because in this case people are missing out on a remarkable reading experience.

Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick is published by Orion - isbn 9781780621982 - £10.99
On Sedgwick's website you can view the atmospheric trailer.

As of December 2014, Ghosts of Heaven has been  shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards as well as the Bookseller YA Fiction Prize
It has also been listed as a Peters Book of the Year and a Lovereading Book of the Year 2014

review written by Dawn Finch - author of Brotherhood of Shades

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

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 )

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

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

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

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.

 

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

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.

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

‘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   

     

Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE

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.







Return to REVIEWS HOMEPAGE