THE WILD SWANS by Jackie Morris Reviewed by Adèle Geras

"It was a book so beautiful that she felt at any moment the painted characters would leap out of the pages and come to life."

So says Eliza, the brave and resourceful heroine of Jackie Morris's THE WILD SWANS. That sentence sums up my feelings about this retelling of one of my favourite fairytales. 

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly will know that I always say, right up front, that I know this or that writer; that I can't help it if some of my best friends write super books and so on. With Jackie, I can truthfully say that I've only met her once briefly in person. But she's a Twitter chum and anyone who takes part in that online cocktail party will know that such relationships can be a great deal of fun. I have followed Jackie and because I've been an admirer of her work for years,  I did actually ASK to review this book.

I had another reason for doing this. It's this: I myself wrote a version of this fairytale for David Fickling's collection of stories, which sold for £1 each back in 1998. My story was called THE SIX SWAN BROTHERS and it was beautifully illustrated in black and white by Ian Beck. 

There are twelve swans in Morris's version. The whole book is so beautifully produced and presented that it's worth pausing to pay tribute to those who made the decision to publish it in this format. It's a square-ish hardback, with full colour illustrations and turning every page is a pleasure.

Morris has written the text as well as providing the haunting illustrations. I am always deeply envious of anyone who can do that. It seems to be the most perfect way of creating a book and here the writer has managed to produce such a rich story,  so full of pleasurable language that actually, it would be possible to read it with no pictures whatsoever and still have the images in your head. Take, for example the painting below. It shows Eliza after she's been enchanted by the White Queen.

 The text reads thus: "...the queen now pulled and backcombed and filled her hair with things.  Eliza saw jewelled combs where there were only tangled twigs and thorns and ragged nests of birds."

And yes, the picture adds to the words but they are poetic and vivid in themselves, even without the help of an illustration.

The story is well known to many  in one version or another. What Morris adds to it is nature and detail. The story is told at much greater length, with many more layers of story for  readers to enjoy. It's told well, with good pacing and gorgeous choice of language. I've also tried reading the text aloud and that works very well, so I hope there will be an audio version. Morris is one of the best illustrators of  creatures: bears, cats, birds and hares. She shows us the world as a beautiful place but also one where cruelty is constantly present, always there waiting to catch us unawares.

In this book, the two creatures who matter are a dog and a hare. Shadow is Eliza's companion and friend. She is a big, grey, skinny animal, but also very gentle and loving.  The White Hare,  (the animal embodiment of the Queen who turned Eliza's brothers into swans) is both sinister and lovely. And the swans themselves are magnificent: white and powerful and crowned with gold.   

 This book will doubtless appear in paperback in the fullness of time but  the very competitively-priced  hardback  would make the most wonderful Christmas present for anyone who loves fairytales, and nature and the joys of holding in their hands something that will go on giving pleasure for years and years. John Keats said it and he's quite right: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

THE WILD SWANS is published by Frances Lincoln

Hbk: £10.99

ISBN: 9781847805362

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Girl On A Plane, by Miriam Moss, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

Miriam Moss gave a wonderful talk about her new book at the CWIG conference in Bath, with the result that her book sold out within minutes of the talk ending.  I bought the book later, and I’m very glad that I did.

This is an extraordinary tale, written by an established writer of children’s fiction who just happened to have lived through the real life terrifying ordeal of a four day hijacking. 

In 1970, teenaged Miriam was travelling from her family’s temporary home in The Middle East back to boarding school in England.  Two aeroplanes had been hijacked by Palestinian guerillas in the previous couple of days, and were now parked in desert in Jordan as the hijackers made their demands and threatened to blow the planes up with all on board.   Suddenly, in mid-flight, there was a man with a gun, and another with suitcase of explosives, on Miriam’s own flight.  Following the hijackers' demands, that Boeing 747 with over a hundred people on board joined those others, parked in the desert with the clock ticking towards the terrorists’ deadline for death. 

Miriam did survive, and she went back to ‘normal’ life.  Her school felt that the best way to help her overcome that traumatic experience was to act as if it had never happened.  For over forty years the experience lay dormant.  Then she mentioned it to her publisher, who told her she must try writing about the experience.  She wasn’t sure she could, but began researching and remembering and finding things from that time, and found that she could write about it, but in fictionalised form because of course she couldn’t remember every conversation that had happened, and because to write about other people on the plane who are still alive wouldn’t be fair on them.

So this story is fiction, but heavily based in reality.  It is the story of fifteen year old Anna, the four days of her hijacking ordeal, and a day or two either side of that.  It is written in the first person in short chapters headed with a time and place.  Most of the text gives Anna’s point of view as she and her co-hostages endure the extreme heat and cold of the desert, lack of food and drink, and, of course, the threat of death by being blown-up or shot one by one is Prime Minister Heath doesn’t agree to release their comrade back in the UK.  The mix of extreme boredom and extreme terror is well handled, along with the relationships she develops with other passengers, crew, and even the hijackers.  But we also get glimpses of Anna’s parents’ and brothers’ experiences through all this, particularly Marni’s (as she calls her mother).  Maybe it’s because I am a mother of daughters that I found those parts the hardest to read, and their eventual reunion weepily moving!

This is a compelling and relatively short read, simply told but with a voice that (apart from odd use of very modern dialogue) utterly convinces as it tells the story in a way which I’m sure is different from the way a writer making it up would work things.  We’d expect Anna to surely hate the plane that has been her explosive-primed prison, and yet, when freedom comes, she is scared to leave it and reacts with grief when she sees the plane blown-up on the television news.  Who would dare make up the scene in which the hostages are lined-up on the desert for a flock of journalist and photographers to photograph and interview?  And yet it happened, and you can look online to see the resulting photographs. 

We are given some insight into the plight of the Palestinians driven to the desperate acts of kidnap and murder, and that’s interesting.  But the real story here is Anna’s experience.  That stays with you long after finishing reading.

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Lilliput, by Sam Gayton. Reviewed by Sarah Hammond (and her two nieces)

‘Have you heard of the tale that’s short and tall? There’s an island in the world where everything is small!’ 

Lilliput is a gem of a story for middle grade readers. In this sequel to Gulliver’s Travels, we learn that Gulliver returned to Lilliput to kidnap one of its inhabitants, Lily, and brought her back to London to prove that his incredible travel tales were true. However, Lily does not like this plan one jot. She just wants to go home.

We join the story as Lily, imprisoned in Gulliver’s attic room, embarks on Escape Plan 34.  It is hard to break free when you are only three inches tall and trapped in a birdcage, yet Lily is feisty and will never give up. Her adventures set her against Gulliver and his misplaced ideas, against poisonous spiders and terrifying cats and, worst of all, against Gulliver's odious landlord, a wicked clock maker whose arrival is preempted by an overture of stink. And Lily, who measures her life in moons not years, worries that her time is slipping through her fingers. 

All is not lost as Lily finds a colourful band of allies. She meets a gigantic Spanish chocolatier and bon viveur who talks in rhyme, a multilingual parrot called Señor Chitchat, and also an unexpected but faithful friend whose eyes speak his truth. Together, they come up with another escape plan. 

As we follow this tiny person through the story, we see her giant world in all its wonderful, sensory, and sometimes frightening glory. One of my favourite scenes finds Lily crawling amongst the inner workings of a clock, which is “as big as a cathedral, as complicated as a steam engine, as busy as a bee’s nest”. Pete Williamson’s evocative illustrations in my version of Lilliput added much to the atmosphere of the story, too.

The originality of the characters, plot-turns and sparkling ideas set this book apart for me. Readers are led through many good old-fashioned rambunctious adventures and high jinks — Lily travels down chimneys, falls into muddy puddles and gets stuck in smelly socks — yet Gayton also gently punctuates his story with reminders of deeper truths. Are all cages made of metal bars? Are goodbyes happy or sad? And what of the Lilliputian custom of paying respect to their ‘Ender’ who made their world and dwells in the time before time? They remember him because they want “to remind ourselves: we all came from kindness. We all sprang from the same place. The world is a gift.”

This spirited storytelling stays with me still. But what was the verdict of some younger readers? 

“Lilliput is a great book because it has an amazing storyline and it is very intriguing. You will never want to put the book down. I didn't anyway! How many stars would I rate it?  4 and 1/2 out of 5! It would be a great book to read if you love adventure!” (My 11 year old niece)

“It was a wonderful story. I loved all the characters, especially the wicked clock maker because he was creepy. I liked the fact that Gulliver stole the little girl because he wanted proof that his tales were true. I loved it when she […edited to avoid plot spoiler as to how the book ends!] like Thumbelina.” (My 8 year old niece)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Gayton is an author and playwright who completed the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa University in England. Lilliput is his second book. When he’s not writing, he likes playing old board games, strumming his guitar, and joining as many rock bands as possible (currently at seven). He lives in the UK by the seaside. 

You can find him online at:

web: www.samgayton.com
facebook: SamGaytonChildrensAuthor

twitter: @sam_gayton

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Sarah Hammond is an author. She has published a picture book for very small        people and teen fiction too. She is a Brit abroad, now living happily in Chicago, with strong ties to the UK which regularly pull her back across the Pond.

You can find her online at:

web: www.sarahhammond.org

facebook: SarahHammondAuthorPage

twitter: @SarahHammond9

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The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone: Reviewed by Tamsin Cooke

This is my first book review for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure and I wanted to choose a middle grade story that had me racing through the pages with my heart pounding. The Dreamsnatcher by Abi Elphinstone does just that. It’s filled with magic, adventure, suspense and hope.

Twelve year old Moll lives in the Tanglefern Forest with a group of Romany gypsies. Discovering her past isn’t as she thought, Moll embarks on an adventure to discover the truth. She soon learns that the dreaded Dreamsnatcher is after her. ‘He’s already taken her dreams. Now he wants her life.’ Brave, feisty and stubborn, Moll and Gryff  - a wild cat always at her side, never to be mistaken for a pet - are the only ones who can stop his dark magic.

Through Moll’s journey, we learn about the mystical world of gypsies, their traditions and beliefs.  We see the forest through her eyes and see how spiritual and close to nature humans can be. We meet complex characters such as Alfie and wonder whether they’re friends or foe. And when we meet Skull, he is spine tinglingly evil.

There are some great gems in this book. I particularly love the bemused pet worm called Porridge the Second and the magical relationship between Moll and Gryff.

The Dreamsnatcher is beautifully written with stunning imagery, fantastic characters and so many twists and turns. It’s the perfect blend of compassion, horror and intrigue. 

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Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman: A fast and furious tale of adventure on the high seas

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

In a wicked world, can an honest man survive?

1752. Devon. England.

When his father is arrested and transported to the Colonies, Caleb is left alone. After a desperate journey in search of an aunt he's never met he receives a strange, cold welcome.

Then a body washes up on the nearby beach and Caleb is caught up in a terrifying net of lies and intrigue. Soon he and his new family are in mortal danger.

 

Review by Rhian Ivory

I read Buffalo Solider on holiday this summer (once I’d got it back off my husband) and found myself talking about it, in fact I couldn’t shut up about it. My mum ordered it the next day and had finished it by the weekend and the one thing we all kept coming back to was THAT VOICE. Tanya Landman writes with such conviction that it feels as if someone is sitting next to you whispering their story into your ear so when Hell and High Water landed on my door mat I was excited but also nervous. Would I have the same intimate reading experience with this book as I’d had with Buffalo Solider? Surely she couldn’t pull it off again and would I really care as much about Caleb in Hell and High Water as I did about Charlie in Buffalo Solider? Reader, she did pull it off and I cared just as much, let me tell you why.

The opening scene features a Punch and Judy show which is described in such detail you feel as if you are part of the audience, watching the show build with the same sense of anticipation as the crowd. It is clear that Landman has seen a show or two in her time because she evokes the scene in a skilful and detailed manner. But this isn’t to be a straightforward story about a father and son touring the county, polishing their puppets and handing around the cap for coins because disaster soon strikes when Caleb’s father is wrongly accused of theft. Caleb is left alone in the world without his guide, his best friend and his companion to not only show him the ropes of the trade but also take care of him in a world which is prejudiced against a boy of mixed race.

Caleb knows of one person who may help him, his father’s sister who is a maid in North Devon. Caleb is forced to find his way alone to his aunt’s house, knock at her door and place himself in a vulnerable position. His character is the backbone of the book and the reader is with him every step of the way as he fights injustice, mistrust and judgement all based on the colour of his skin. He tries his best to find work locally but isn’t given much of chance. Landman plays with gender and convention cleverly by giving Caleb the traditionally viewed feminine skills of a seamstress and Lettie (his aunt’s stepdaughter) the more masculine traits of a seaman. Together they make the perfect pair but get off to quite a bad start.

What stayed with me long after I finished the novel is the burning sense of injustice, the lack of equality for Caleb and Lettie and the class system is once again examined under Landman’s microscopic lens exposing the differences between the rich and the poor, the corruption that power can bring and the lack of agency Caleb and Lettie suffer from.

But happily there’s hope, phew!  The hope comes from Caleb and Letty’s strength of character, intelligence, bravery and overriding sense of justice all neatly tied up in a tender and delicate love story binding the themes together throughout this fast and furious tale of adventure on the high seas.

About the author

Tanya studied for a degree in English Literature at Liverpool University before working in a bookshop, an arts centre and a zoo. Since 1992 Tanya has been part of Storybox Theatre working as a writer, administrator and performer - a job which has taken her to festivals all over the world. She lives with her husband, Rod Burnett, and two sons, Isaac and Jack, in Devon.
Tanya had no ambition to write until Waking Merlin popped into her head a few years ago; but now she can't seem to stop writing! She says it's the best job ever - being allowed to spend hours staring into space, daydreaming...
Follow Tanya Landman on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/tanya.landman.7
and twitter @tanya_landman 
Tanya's Carnegie speech

About the reviewer

Rhian was born in Swansea but moved to the Brecon Beacons where she went to school until 11. She then moved all the way across the border to Hereford. She returned to Wales to study English Literature at Aberystwyth. She trained as a Drama and English teacher and wrote her first novel during her first few years in teaching.

 She got her first publishing deal at 26 and went on to write three more novels for Bloomsbury. She took a break to have three children and during this time taught Creative Writing and also a Children’s Literature course for the Open University. 

 

The Boy who drew the Future is her fifth novel, she’s finished writing her sixth and is halfway through her seventh.

 

She is a National Trust Writer in Residence, a Patron of Reading and  a WoMentor. 

 

You can follow Rhian on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Out of the Dark, by Adele Geras. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Publisher: Quercus
Publication Year: 2015
ISBN: 978-1784291259

I have to admit that I am a big fan of Adele Geras' work. My Grandmother's Stories and Voyage are wonderful reads that prove diversity and 'issue' books can be just as entertaining as fantasy or adventure. Troy and Ithaka are superb YA novels that stay true to the essence and feel of the ancient world but still manage to be relevant to twenty first century readers.

I have yet to tackle her full length adult novels so Out of the Dark, a short novella in the QuickReads 2015 series, was a perfect introduction to this side of her work . It is the story of Rob Stone, a young Londonder who has it all: matinee idol looks, a gorgeous girlfriend and a job in a fashionable store where he is much admired by the ladies.  World War I robs him of all these. He returns from the battlefields with a burnt face that has to be hidden behind a mask, a girlfriend who very quickly becomes an ex and no job. He does not come home alone. With him comes the ghost of his dead captain, whose Bible and family photograph, Rob has lifted from his pack.

As the young man tries to rebuild his life, and to track down the captain's family, he finds frequent refuge in the darkness of the cinema. I can't say much more without spoiling the ending but let me assure you that this if a first rate read. It's part ghost story, part historical drama. I highly recommended it.

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




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The House of Eyes, by Patricia Elliott: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

There are quite a few books about where children turn detective - it's been a popular genre for a long time: would Emil Kastner's Emil and the Detectives be one of the earliest? More recently, Joan Lennon has brought out the Slightly Jones mysteries, and Elen Cadecott the Marsh Road mysteries - both great fun.

Now here's Patricia Elliott with a series set in the early 1900s, and a very determined heroine called Connie Carew. Connie, an orphan, lives with her two aunts, Sylvie and Dorothea. The latter has a very unpleasant husband named Mr Thurston, who wears Macassar oil on his hair and has creaky corsets. (How could he possibly be nice when he commits two such crimes against good taste?)

The action kicks off when Connie and her aunts go to a seance. It is well known that the unfortunate Dorothea lost her first husband, Mr Fairbanks, not long after their marriage; and that her two year old daughter, Ida, was kidnapped and has never been seen since. So Dorothea is both shocked and excited when the medium announces that at last, after fifteen years, Ida is coming home - and produces an apparition which purports to be this same Ida.

Soon after this a beautiful girl does indeed appear at the house, declaring that she comes from an orphanage, that she's seeking a job as a maid - and that her name is Ida Brown. Aunt Dorothea is instantly certain that this must be her long-lost daughter - and the gold locket Ida has would seem to bear out this theory. The rest of the household seems to be convinced, but Connie is not so sure.

Connie is intelligent, resourceful and determined. Ida is beautiful, and it's not surprising that Connie is a little jealous of the way all her favourite people quickly become besotted with the newcomer. But she doesn't let this get in the way of her pursuit of the truth. Ida is almost eighteen, and on her birthday, she will inherit a large fortune. Clear-sighted Connie realises that she is the only one who is objective enough to find out the truth - but she doesn't have very much time...

The story is told in a crisp, light fashion - a reflection of Connie's own personality. There is lots of incidental detail about life in Edwardian London: the clothes, the transport, the places they lived in; even the King himself makes an appearance at one point - fortunately for Connie, who is in a tight spot at the time. The other characters are also vivid and well-drawn: eccentric Aunt Sylvie, sad Aunt Dorothea, weedy-but-nice Arthur, handsome-but-caddish Frank, and Ida herself, conflicted, confused and beautiful. There's a nice hook at the end to link into the next story, and it's very good to know that this will not be the only case for the excellent Connie Carew to solve!

Just one thing - I'm sure I'm being dense, but I couldn't quite figure out why the book was called The House of Eyes...?

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THE FEW by Cathy McSporran; reviewed by Gillian Philip

It's a little known fact (and new to me) that Winston Churchill was a bit of an occultist who consulted mediums and considered himself psychic. His belief in witches – and the rumour that he consulted them during the war – was the spark for Cathy McSporran's first Young Adult novel, The Few.

Maggie, the heroine of the story, is working with the Women's Land Army in the south of England – not just to help with the war effort, but to help her deal with her grief: Maggie and her younger brother witnessed their father's death at Dunkirk, in an incident that also uncovered the pair's latent supernatural talents. Maggie and Colin are soon recruited into a coven of young witches working for the British government; taken to London, they discover that their most dangerous enemies are a group of German teenagers with powers that mirror their own. These Gothi become even more lethal when one of their number succeeds in channelling the ancient Aryan goddess Freya.

Much of the story takes place under the (sometimes literal) shadow of the Battle of Britain, so the supernatural storyline is complemented by some thrilling air battles, as well as a touching romance between Maggie and one of the Spitfire pilots, Michal.

McSporran effectively weaves together history, real and fictional characters, and the mythologies of Northern Europe to create a spellbinding story that rarely lets up its pace. The tangled web of relationships – encompassing betrayal as well as fierce loyalty and dedication – feels real, and packs a considerable emotional punch by the conclusion. The Few is the first book in a series, and succeeds in giving the reader both a satisfying ending and an enticing hint of more adventures to come.

It can be a tough call to blend real history with mythic fantasy, but McSporran pulls it off with flair. The book itself isn't well served by its cover, but if you look beyond that you'll find a ripping fantasy that combines high-stakes world peril with emotional strength and subtlety.


The Few by Cathy McSporran; published by Freight Books RRP £8.99

www.gillianphilip.com




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Blue by Lisa Glass Reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

When Iris meets Zeke, she has no idea who he is. He's a surfer, she knows that, but isn't everyone in Newquay? And surfer boys are exactly what she's trying to avoid after the way her ex, Daniel, treated her. But Zeke doesn't seem to be anything like Daniel - he's a much better surfer, for one thing. The more Iris hangs our with Zeke, the more she likes him, until she finds out who he is: a world famous pro-surfing superstar, in Newquay to spend some time with his dad's family.

Iris tries to keep her distance but there's something about Zeke she finds irresistible, in spite of knowing he's only in town for a short while. When he suggests she enters a major surf competition to win sponsorship from a global brand, she's not sure she's good enough. Can she overcome her nerves and her reservations about Zeke to follow her heart? Or does her destiny lie closer to home?

Blue is a heady mix of sun, surf and sand (with the perfect amount of sex thrown in too). It's a perfect summer YA book, one so evocative of the Cornish surf scene that I could almost taste the salt on the wind from Fistral Beach as I read. I loved Iris and fully sympathised with her struggles to come to terms with her past while dealing with a white-hot attraction to someone who could easily break her newly-mended heart. And Zeke was adorable - not quite as perfect as his appearance and lifestyle seem to suggest. His flaws made him even more appealing and a cut above the usual YA hero. There's plenty of drama too, with a climax that had me breathless with anxiety. I can see why the film rights were snapped up - Blue is intoxicating and addictive. I immediately bought the sequel, Air, and binge-read that too. The third book, Ride, is out in 2016. Needless to say, I can't wait.

Blue is a YA title, recommended for 14+. Published by Quercus.

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The Something by Rebecca Cobb reviewed by Lynda Waterhouse

Yesterday I walked into Hatchards at St Pancras Station, walked over to the picture book section and began browsing. I kept returning to this book. The title intrigued me and the clear white spaces on the cover drew me in as did the beguiling child friendly feel of the illustrations.

Then I read the story and I couldn't put it down and have been reading it ever since. It begins with the words; ‘Underneath the cherry tree in our garden there is a little hole. We found it one day when I bounced my ball and it didn't bounce back.’

A child loses their ball down a hole and begins to wonder what is down there.  The simplest of story lines and yet so much happens. Everyone has an opinion about what is down the hole. Mum thinks it might be a doorway into a mouse’s house, someone else thinks it could be a troll down there or is it a dragon’s den. Grandma and Grandpa are more realistic in their opinions. They think it might be a mole or a badger. The important thing is that everyone has different ideas about it even the dog.

The mystery of The Something is never solved and the child simply enjoys quietly watching, waiting and imagining what lies beneath.

The text has a lovely lyrical rhythm that is a delight to read aloud. It is full of gentle touches. You are not sure if the child is a boy or a girl – they are just a child. One of the child’s friends is in a wheelchair. The weather and the tree are constantly changing. Each illustration shows what might have happened to the ball down the hole.

This is a story about looking, thinking and asking questions. It is about being happy with not knowing all the answers but keeping watch anyway in the hope that something surprising will appear.

Published by Macmillan

ISBN 978-1-4472-7181-9

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MY STORY: POMPEII by Sue Reid. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

My fascination with Pompeii began at school, at about the age of seven. I have a vivid memory of a film show where we sat on benches in what I now realise was probably a converted air-raid shelter. I was near the front, and was hugely impressed by the sight of red molten lava moving relentlessly down the side of the volcano. The recent British Museum exhibition will have brought this ancient catastrophe to the attention of many more children, and Sue Reid's story - exciting, well-researched and written in a lively diary form - will appeal to anyone eager to know what it would have been like to be there.

This story recreates the last fourteen months of the doomed city through the experience of a young teenage girl, Claudia. Her father gives her a spare roll of papyrus, and Claudia decides to write a diary, starting with the day in August AD 78 when earth tremors shake the city and she encounters a slave boy, a Briton, who is to become a secret friend. Claudia's concerns are typical of a girl of her age: making and breaking friendships with other girls, playing with her brothers, looking after the family's dog and trying to avoid the household tasks that her mother says she must learn if she is to become a proper Roman wife with a house and slaves to manage. Throughout Claudia's story is woven that of Aengus, the British boy, and his search for his sister and for freedom.

Sue Reid portrays well the mix of people in Pompeii. Claudia's father is a freed slave, and this gives him and his family an instinctive sympathy for other slaves. Her mother is an Egyptian, a devotee of the goddess Isis, to whom Claudia dedicates her diary. The city of Pompeii is brought to vigorous life: noisy, smelly, crowded, cosmopolitan - its inhabitants so like ourselves and yet so different with their love of gladiatorial combat and their anxious propitiation of the gods, their sacrifices, curses and good luck charms.

The sense of impending doom makes this a compelling read. The reader fears for the characters and wonders what will happen to them all. Wisely, Sue Reid does not tie up too many ends, but the story finishes in a satisfying way.

At the back there is detailed information about the eruption, how the cities were overwhelmed, the archaeological work, and photographs - including a poignant photo of plaster casts of huddled bodies beside a wall.

Scholastic, p/b. First published 2008, this edition 2015.

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The Silver Handled Knife by Frances Thomas. Review by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...
Electra is eagerly looking forward to her father Agamemnon’s triumphant return to Mycenae after the long war in Troy. But his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus have other plans – Clytemnestra cannot forgive her husband for the sacrifice of her eldest daughter Iphigenia at the start of the war, and Aegisthus covets the kingship. Instead of celebrating his return, they murder him horribly; and suddenly Mycenae isn’t a safe place for Electra or her brother Orestes. Orestes goes into exile, and Electra has to submit to a humiliating fate. When Orestes eventually returns, there is only one word on his mind – revenge!
What part will Electra play in this?

I have a great passion for ancient history and, as a result, I read a lot of fiction based in classical antiquity. Sadly far too many of these books seem only to dwell on the masculine sword-and-sandals stories and females are allocated the usual position of wife or servant. Recently there have been two noticeable novels that put girls right at the heart of the story. 

Frances Thomas’ new book, The Silver Handled Knife, is the third in her series The Girls of Troy. In this volume we share the extraordinary story of Electra, daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon as she makes her way to adulthood and independence by way of war, sacrifice and clever wrangling. She is an instantly likeable character and the Classical period is vividly brought to life. Her hardships and suffering are part of the tapestry of her life and, even though it all feels extraordinary to us, Electra regards most of the things that happen to her as an inevitable part of her life. Her struggles become ours and we bear her burdens with her and try to imagine walking in her footsteps. Thomas’ style is to absorb us in the period and yet Electra still feels like someone we know and understand today.

The other book that I have recently enjoyed that is centered on classical history is Lucy Coat’s remarkable book, Cleo. Her description of the life of young Cleopatra is a unique and colourful look into the turbulent path that she lead to achieve her place in history. It is hard writing about a person that everyone thinks they know, but Lucy Coats effortlessly introduces us to a young woman about whom I clearly knew very little. Coat’s style is to bring this to life in a modernistic fashion, but somehow this still works and allows us to see the modern parallels that Cleo shares with teens today.

I have read hundreds of books that base their plot in antiquity, but few writers manage to bring something fresh and new to the tale. I’m very glad to say that these two books are bright and exciting and would make a great addition to any bookshelf.

Cleo by Lucy Coats is published by Orchard Books – May 2015

The Silver Handled Knife by Frances Thomas is published by Silverwood Books – 1 Sept 2015

Review by Dawn Finch

www.dawnfinch.com

@dawnafinch

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The Pebble in My Pocket by Meredith Hooper reviewed by Julia Jones

The Pebble in my Pocket was a bookseller recommendation and one of my most successful presents this year. I gave it to my five year old grandson who’s not yet a great reader but has a real interest in the natural world and a fabulous memory for facts.  

The Pebble in my Pocket begins with the most insignificant object; round and smooth and brown, an ordinary pebble. You might be irritated if you found one in your boot, you might pick up a handful and chuck them in a pond, just to hear the spatter. Would you ever look at it and think I’m holding something that is millions of years old: something that could have been on top of mountains and under the sea, covered with ice and stamped on by mammoths? Here’s something that was thrown up from the deep inside the earth, formed in unimaginable heat. This pebble is older than the oldest fossils; three times as old as the oldest dinosaurs. This pebble has a story and its story is the story of our earth. 

Never mind the grandchildren, for people like me who get in a muddle with the number of noughts in the millions and are hopelessly uncertain about the correct ordering of their Silurians and Devonians, the layout of this book is the first of its blessings. Each double page spread takes the story gently forward from a volcanic eruption 480 million years ago to a newly built house today. It’s never boring. Great fun to read aloud and with a real sense of story and occasionally drama.“Under the volcano, melted rock shifts like thick treacle […] The ground shakes. Gas hisses […] Columns of purple ash shoot into the sky.”

Big geological events – an eruption, flooding, an ice age, another ice age – are interspersed with small individual happenings. Once each particular pebble has been formed it’s subject to apparently random events. It may be swept down a river, trodden on by diplodocus, chucked at a rat by Neanderthal boy.

“Every pebble in the world is different from every other pebble. Every pebble has its own story. Pick up a pebble and you are holding a little piece of the history of our planet.”

You could see it as emblematic or simply awe-inspiring. My grandchildren responded in various practical ways. First, naturally, they hurried out of doors to collect pebbles of their own, compare them and wonder at them. Then they pestered their mother to make a volcano with vinegar, sodium bicarbonate and orange food colouring. After which they drew and painted and talked about their pebbles and the next time they were playing on their native Welsh beach they felt a real, knowledgeable thrill at the sight of pudding-stone rock.

I bought another copy immediately with the honest intention of passing it to the other grandchild family but I realise I’m not going to be able to let it go. And now I discover that the same author-illustrator team has previously told the story of water in The Drop in my Drink. It's on order.

The Pebble in my Pocket: a History of our Earth

By Meredith Hooper (illustrated by Chris Coady)

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (1996)

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13 HOURS – by Narinder Dhami

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

Anni is a twelve year old carer.  After spending every day at school worrying, she rushes home, desperate to be there for her mother, who will go frantic if Anni is more than a second late.  As well as debilitating injuries following an old accident and a terror of going beyond the dilapidated front door, Anni’s mother is convinced that every sound she hears comes from intruders who are out to get her.  It is Anni’s job to scour the big old tumbledown house to convince her mother that no one is there.

But one day there is . . .

Four people in balaclavas have broken in.  It’s obvious they haven’t come to steal – there is nothing worth stealing in the house – they are on a mission.  Anni soon realises that their mission has something to do with the fact that the Prime Minister will be driven right by the house in thirteen hours’ time.  That means the intruders have thirteen hours to prepare and the last thing they want is a terrified mother and her twelve year old daughter in the house they’d assumed was deserted. 

As the thirteen hours unravel, so does Anni’s life – the intruders aren’t what they seem, her mother has secrets and hidden depths she didn’t know about, Anni finds strength she didn’t know she had and she also begins to question her way of life.

The young carer/mother situation is beautifully handled.  There is a real conflict between sheer frustration at how a mother could expect so much from her child, Anni’s desperate willingness to keep things as they are or lose her mother, her mother’s guilt – and finally, the real reason behind it all, which also neatly ties in with what the intruders are doing.  Very clever.

As you can imagine, by the title and the plotline, this is very much a page-turner.  But there are real issues here as well – the motives of the intruders, the issue of young carers and the devastating consequences agoraphobia.

  

There are notes at the back of the book about agoraphobia and information for young carers – many of whom, as comes across in the book, don’t realise that is what they are.

Definitely worth a read.

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