Dave Pigeon written by Swapna Haddow and illustrated by Sheena Dempsey. Reviewed by Tamsin Cooke

Dave Pigeon, by Swapna Haddow, is a hilarious, laugh out loud book aimed for children 6+.  It’s typed by Skipper (a pigeon) and tells the tale of Skipper and his mate Dave, trying to outwit a mean cat. They want to get the cat out of the house so they can live in harmony with the Human Lady.

The story is told from the viewpoint of a pigeon, and if a pigeon spoke human English, I think this is exactly how he would sound.  Skipper addresses us, the readers,  ‘if you can read this, you obviously understand pigeons,’ which draws you into the book straight away.  Plus Dave interrupts the actual story by having conversations on what the chapter titles should be. This had me roaring out loud.

Skipper and Dave are a great team, although I think Dave has an undeserved high opinion of himself. Skipper seems to be the real brains of the operation. The Human Lady is a fabulous example of a compassionate kind person. And you can’t help but wonder if mean cat is as mean as the pigeons suggest.

The short chapters are stuffed with jokes, and the superb humorous illustrations by Sheena Dempsey add much to the story.  I imagine new readers would find Dave Pigeon incredibly funny and accessible. I also think it would be a great book to read aloud either in a classroom or at bedtime… although your child might be laughing too much to ever fall asleep.

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Tally and Squill written by Abie Longstaff, illustrated by James Brown, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...

Ten-year-old Tally is a servant girl at Mollett Manor. She sleeps in the scullery sink, and spends her days scrubbing, polishing and ironing (when she's not secretly reading books). Then Tally and her squirrel friend, Squill, find a secret library hidden under the manor - a magical library where the books come to life! When Mollett Manor is burgled, can Tally use the knowledge she finds in the books to catch the criminals? Can they even help her solve the mystery of her missing mother?



Tally and Squill in a Sticky Situation is the first in a new series of books from Abie Longstaff. Abie is perhaps best known for her Fairytale Hairdresser books for younger readers, and her charming writing style is easily recognised in this new series.

Tally lives a hard life scrubbing and cleaning for her guardians at Mollett Manor. A foundling child raised by the servants of the house, Tally knows that she once had a mother (she can remember little bits about her) but somehow she was lost and then found by the servants and raised by them. She is also very very smart. Tally knows the power of books and libraries and she knows that any time she gets in trouble, a book will be there to help her, especially the books of the Secret Library.

The story takes us along with Tally on an adventure where she captures burglars, solves crimes and tunnels into a mystery - oh, and meets a very special friend; a clever and cheeky little red squirrel that she names Squill.

Wonderful descriptive passages to read aloud

This is a very enjoyable book, and one that packs a lot of punch for its size. The book is ostensibly short, but it is linguistically challenging and perfect for a developing reader. There are lots of gorgeous new words that a freshly independent reader might not otherwise have come across, all embedded in a beautifully illustrated book allowing for supported contextualisation.The book also makes great use of more complex literary elements such as footnotes, and it also manages to include many positive references to the use of non-fiction material for both enjoyment and to solve problems. The positive message about enjoying non-fiction, and using libraries is very satisfying in a book for children who are just beginning to expand their reading skills and establish a reading habit.

Ok, so that's the boring educational bit.... but the big thing is that Tally and Squill are a delight! The story is fun and adventurous and Tally is brave and smart and inspirational. When the going gets tough...it's feisty Tally right up there in front - and who doesn't love a red squirrel? The text is harmoniously coupled with the illustrations of James Brown (illustrator of the Elspeth Hart series). The illustrations are filled with life and movement and they work particularly well with Longstaff's lively text.

All in all, this is a book to read with a child, help them chew on the delicious new words, let them guess at the meanings and use the excellent illustrations to work out the puzzles. Read along, share, and enjoy the adventure with them. I was reading it on a plane and the little girl behind me was leaning over my shoulder to get a better look. When I finished it I asked her father if I could give his daughter the book as a gift. He said "well, thanks but she's not much of a reader." His daughter frowned at him and said, "that's not true, I just haven't found one I like yet." Wise words.

She took the book with a big grin and, stuffing her ipad in the seat pocket, she spent the rest of the journey with Tally and Squill. At the end of the flight I felt a little tug at my sleeve and looked down to see the little girl still clutching the book.
 "I really like squirrels," she said, "and this little girl is very clever so I like her."
"I like her too," I said. "I like her a lot."

Tally and Squill in a Sticky Situation is written by Abie Longstaff, illustrated by James Brown
Published by Little Brown, July 2016

Review by Dawn Finch
Children's writer and librarian
President, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)
CWIG Committee Member
www.dawnfinch.com
www.dawnfinch.co.uk
@dawnafinch 



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MONSTERSAURUS by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort - reviewed by Damian Harvey

The creative partnership of Claire Freedman and Ben Cort hardly needs any introduction for buyers of picture books – they being the force behind the hugely popular ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and others in the series. With ‘MONSTERSAURUS’ though, there’s not a pair of pants in sight and for that reason the book may easily be missed which I think would be a shame as it’s lots of fun.

The hero of this story is a young inventor called Monty. “Monty LOVES inventing. BUT things don’t always work” and lots of his inventions go wrong. When Monty finds a book that has instructions on how to create a monster friend he can’t wait to give it a go. He drops the ingredients into his machine and “WHOOSH!” out comes a disgusting slobbery “Bogablog!”. Not to be put off, Monty tries again and “POOF!” out comes a “Dust Monster”. When the two monsters start to fight, it’s up to Monty to put things right. He grabs his book one more time and “KAPOW!” out comes a “big, bad MONSTERSAURUS.”

As always, Claire Freedman’s rhyming text works well and is great to read out loud, while Ben Cort’s bright, colourful spreads add to the fun - making this a real monster of a book to share with little monsters everywhere; and one that will stand a good few revisits at bed time or in the classroom.

Reviewed by Damian Harvey

www.damianharvey.co.uk

Twitter @damianjharvey

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

The One and Only Ivan tells the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla, who was taken from the wild as an infant to live in captivity in America. It is an intelligent, poignant middle grade fantasy told from Ivan's perspective. The story is heartbreaking and heartwarming by turns.  

When we first meet him, Ivan has been living in a cage in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade for the last 27 years. He does not seem to remember or miss his life in the jungle. He only has a few friends around him: Stella the elephant-next-door who performs tricks for the crowds; and Bob, a stray dog who sneaks in to see Ivan at night and to sleep on his belly. Ivan occupies his days with his TV and his ‘artwork’, which is sold at the mall gift shop.

One day, to address the falling popularity of the animals and low visitor numbers, a newcomer is brought to the mall: a baby elephant called Ruby. Memories of home are very raw for this little elephant, and Ruby has not yet acclimatised to the human world. In helping her, and in addressing the changes that she brings, Ivan finds himself reassessing his own captivity, too. 

The story is told by Ivan using deceptively simple words and short chapters. As he says, "Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot." Long after reading this book, many sentences and images — poignant and poetic in their understatement — stay with me still. We learn that Ivan is patient and thoughtful and resilient and resourceful. Slowly, we discover his harrowing past. A reader warning is due here: it would be difficult to finish this book with a dry eye, and many questions are raised about the treatment of animals in captivity. 

However, the overall message of the book is not downbeat. A strong thread of humanity and tenderness runs through the story. Although Ivan's worldview anchors the book, many other characters contribute to this growing sense of kindness: Stella, the stoic and maternal elephant; the not-as-tough-as-he-seems dog, Bob; sensitive and intuitive Julia who understands Ivan's paintings; lively, questioning, and loving baby Ruby; and George, the caring caretaker of the mall. As Ivan seeks to protect and rescue Ruby from her difficult new environment, he strengthens enough to confront his own buried memories and to rescue his own identity as a silverback in all its glory. 

The author was inspired to write The One and Only Ivan by the story of a real gorilla of the same name who was captured from (what is now) the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an infant, and who lived in a domestic home in America until he became unmanageable. Then he, too, lived alone in a cage for almost three decades without seeing another gorilla in a circus-themed mall in Washington state. Eventually, as attitudes towards animal welfare and understanding of primate needs developed, his plight was given publicity by a feature in the National Geographic, called 'The Urban Gorilla'. This article triggered a public outcry and Ivan eventually found a home in Zoo Atlanta in 1994. There, he became a celebrity, living with the largest group of captive western lowland gorillas in the US. This Ivan was also renowned for his paintings. He died when he was 50 years old. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan. She has written many books including the Roscoe Riley Rules chapter book series and the picture book The Buffalo Storm. Her novel Home of the Brave was a School Library Best Book of the Year and won both the Golden Kite Award and the Josette Frank Award for best children's fiction. She wrote the bestselling series Animorphs with her husband, Michael Grant. She lives in Northern California with her husband and their two children.You can find out more about her on her website: www.katherineapplegate.com

ABOUT THE REVIEWER:

Sarah Hammond is a writer for young people. She has published a picture book, Mine! (Parragon), and a teen novel, The Night Sky in my Head (OUP), which was short-listed for four awards in the UK. 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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MARIANNE DREAMS by Catherine Storr. Review by Penny Dolan.

When I saw a copy of MARIANNE DREAMS re-issued in the Faber Classics imprint, I had to buy

it.

My curiosity about this heard-about but unknown, “classic” book was increased by the attractive cover, the slightly squat and chunky shape and the generous font and layout. MARIANNE DREAMS was inviting: a  pleasure to hold. 

The story seems quite simple. Just as Marianne is looking forward to the summer, she is struck down by a serious illness. Because the doctor insists Marianne must stay in bed for six weeks convalescence, her mother arranges for Miss Chesterfield, a kind of "governess", to give her lessons. 

 One day, rather bored, Marianne opens her drawing book and, using a special silver-topped pencil, draws:

“a house with four windows and a front door. . . she drew a fence round the house and a path leading from the front door to the gate . .  . (and) flowers inside the fence and all around she drew long scribbly grass . .  .waist-high, at least . . and outside the fence, a few large, rough-looking stones or lumps of rock.”

Later, as Marianne falls asleep, she dreams she is walking through a strange empty house. When she wakes, Marianne realises that the house in her dream was the house she’d drawn. Not liking the empty feeling of the house, she decides to draw a boy’s face, looking out of one of the upstairs windows, Inevitably, in yet another dream, meets Mark, the boy she has drawn, right down to having one leg thinner than the other because she hadn’t drawn him well enough.

Gradually, as the dreams recurr, Marianne discovers that "dream" Mark is an invalid too, barely able to walk, and that he is also a pupil of Miss Chesterfield, “her” new governess. Marianne starts drawing useful things that are needed in the eerie dream house but although the children get to know each other, their relationship is often prickly. Mark himself seems unwillingly trapped in Marianne's dream but unable - or too ill - to do anything about his situation..

There is a very big falling out. Wanting to be liked, Marianne has spent all her pocket money on a few expensive roses for Miss Chesterfield on her birthday, However, while waiting, Marianne hears that not only has Mark given their governess with an enormous bouquet of the same flowers but that Miss Chesterfield won't be visiting her that afternoon.

Marianne completely loses her temper with Mark and with her pitifully few roses. In a jealous rage, she scribbles strong dark lines across the windows of the house, and puts some tall stones outside the fence, giving them dots for eyes, as shown in the child-like drawings within the book.

When Marianne dreams again, she finds a much-weakened Mark. His room is now darkened by puzzling bars that criss-crossed the window and he feels that the stones outside have begun watching him. 

Worse, Marianne hears the real-life Mark is now in a hospital ventilator machine and the eerie dream steadily develops into a nightmare. The stones are threatening the children, trying to get inside the dream house, although it is never clear why or to what end. The illogical but inevitable quality of the dream greatly adds to the tension.of the tale, and how can the pair escape when  they both feel almost powerless?

Gradually, with the help of The Pencil, Marianne decides to draw things that will help Mark grow stronger, both in the dream and - according to various reports from the grown-ups – in his real life too. Finally, with Mark-in-the-Dream better in health and spirits, the pair make a desperate cycle-ride towards the lighthouse and to freedom. Marianne herself is left on a gentle cliff-hanger of an ending, possibly best suited to a dream.

MARIANNE DREAMS has a truly mesmeric quality, reminding me of the anguish of trying to solve problems you only partially understand and the powerlessness one feels when trapped within a recurring dream. Catherine Storr is also accurate about the annoyance of being ill and stuck in bed – as was prescribed in the past - and how that feeling can often make people behave badly. MARIANNE DREAMS might be fantasy, but it felt based on firm emotional ground.

Originally published in 1958, MARIANNE DREAMS does show both its age and social context, although the writing is admirably clear. The book would have been written around the time of a polio epidemic, when there were scary news items about children suddenly struck down and kept alive by the use of an “iron lung”. All this would have been familiar to Storr as she herself had been a Senior Medical Officer in the Middlesex Hospitals Psychiatric Department, and this book is definitely strengthened by a deep knowledge of illness and psychology.

I am glad that the book was re-issued, and I missed out on it first time around, but I am honestly not quite sure who I would recommend MARIANNE DREAMS to, other than KS2 and pre-teens who like different books and any adults who read it in the past. The steady pace is unlike any modern “busy” fantasy, the ending is more dream-like than fully resolved and there is no “romance” in the relationship between Marianne and Mark. Yet Storr has created a ghost story without any of the traditional horror but one that is scary enough in its own right: there is a memorable sense of  suspense as the reader experiences the strongest sense of being trapped with Marianne inside her darkening dream. 

The book has been made into a tv film, into an opera, and interpreted in drama. Here's the publicity video of a production some years ago in Dublin that gives a good sense of the feeling one gets reading the book. I hope the play did well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDL2zrPXfnY 

Catherine Storr also wrote the popular CLEVER POLLY AND THE STUPID WOLF series, which makes quite an interesting contrast!

 

Penny Dolan.

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The Book of Storms, by Ruth Hatfield: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

First, a warning: this is the first part of a trilogy, and the third part isn't out till November.

This is a highly original fantasy, about Danny, whose parents are obsessed by storms. One night they go out to track a particularly powerful one - and they don't return. When Danny ventures out into the garden looking for them the next morning, he finds that an old sycamore tree has been struck by lightening, and his eye is caught by a small stick which, though it's lying in the centre of the debris, is curiously unburnt. He picks it up - and finds he can hear the voice of the dying tree - and the voices of every other living thing, too...

The world the stick opens up to him, the strangeness of the events surrounding his parents' disappearance - and the fear that there might be trouble from social services if they find out that his parents left him alone - he is 11 - in the middle of the night: all these things convince him he must find his parents himself.  He finds clues in some notes made by his parents, and becomes convinced that he needs a certain Book of Storms, which is in the possession of an old man called Abel Korsakof who lives not too far away.

And so it begins. The reader finds out, quite a while before Danny, that the enemy of the piece is Sammael - who is a quite extraordinary creation. He's described as a demon - but he's not a typical demon; he doesn't breathe flames or have cloven hooves. He does do Faustian-type deals though - with, among others, Abel Kosakof - offering people what they most want in return for their souls, or 'sand'. He does, though, have a dry sense of humour, which I rather liked. And he's fond of his dog, though he doesn't treat her well. But there's no denying he has it in for the human race - and when Danny starts to get in his way, things turn very nasty, both for Danny and for those closest to him.

I found this a really powerful read. It's very well written: the fantasy world, and its relationship with the real world, become entirely convincing. The second book, The Colour of Darkness, is equally strong - though the new character, Cath, is so resilient and determined that she makes Danny look a bit of a wimp. When I'd finished the first two books, I immediately went to download the third - and teeth were gnashed when I found out that it doesn't come out till the autumn.

Just a word of caution - although Danny and Cath are 11, the trilogy is definitely not middle grade: this is not a happy-ever-after fantasy. There is death and violence, perpetrated by real-life characters as well as by fantasy ones. The covers are dark, and so are the stories. I'm hoping for a happy ending, but I'm not convinced I'm going to get one! But then, The Lord of the Rings also has a hefty share of darkness, and in that too, while good ultimately triumphs, it's at considerable cost.

Ruth Hatfield is a very talented new writer, and I look forward to seeing what she will produce next.

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SEVEN MILES OF STEEL THISTLES by Katherine Langrish; reviewed by Gillian Philip

I wanted to take more time to read this lovely book, a collection (with amendments and additions) of Katherine Langrish’s posts in her blog of the same name. In fact, halfway through I paused to berate myself. If a book is as beautifully written and engrossing as this one, I told myself, you ought to relax, take your time, roll it around your brain for a while and make it last.

But by that time I was with the story of Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty, and Langrish was placing it in a context of stopped time, suspended animation, preserved moments. And I realised that it was fine to spend a hot and sunny afternoon doing nothing but immersing myself in this investigation of, and paean to, fairytales. So long as thorn bushes didn’t start growing up around the house, one gulp at one sitting was a perfectly good way to devour it.

Rescuing Sleeping Beauty from her reputation as the most passive heroine in storytelling is just one of the author’s feats. (I use the word deliberately; ‘Seven Miles of Steel Thistles’ is a description of an obstacle in a story of one of those rambling fairytale quests, but Langrish also likens it to the act of writing a book. I can totally relate.) She kills stone-dead the notion that fairytales are all about weak, passive princesses awaiting rescue; her retelling of the story of Mr Fox – a far more feminist folktale than Perrault’s Bluebeard –  is especially delightful, and I envy the schoolchildren who have heard her tell it live. 

Langrish begins, though, with an analysis of what fairytales are, and where they came from, and the often blurred distinctions between fairytales, myths and legends. As she puts it in the introduction:

“The field of fairy stories, legends, folk tales and myths is like a great, wild meadow. The flowers and grasses seed everywhere; boundaries are impossible to maintain. Wheat grows into the hedge from the cultivated fields nearby, and poppies spring up in the middle of the oats…”

But Katherine Languish has a forensic approach to classifying them and clarifying the distinctions. It’s not about the fairies: plenty of fairytales have none at all. They’re not about characterisation, or intricate description, or even sane and logical plotting. These are stories most of all about ordinary people, their lives, their hopes and fears – albeit through the filter of weird metamorphoses and talking foxes. Fairytales “don’t ask to be believed”; but in the splendid chapter Desiring Dragons, Langrish declares that it’s our ability to think symbolically that makes us human. Far from telling children (and adults) they should grow out of Harry Potter, Langrish believes that “Myths and stories deserve to be taken seriously - read and written seriously - because there are things humanity needs to say that can only be said in symbols.”

Seven Miles of Steel Thistles is a wide-ranging journey through centuries – millennia – of these symbolic stories; as well as retelling and analysing fairytales from many cultures, Langrish gives us personal stories of her own love – begun in childhood – for these uniquely human creations. The chapters are punctuated by some of her own beautiful, sharp poems inspired by folk and fairytales. And she has done some fascinating detective work on the various versions of The Great Selkie of Sule Skerrie. It’s unsurprising that the original can’t be tracked down (though the journey is entertaining) – as she points out, there are no such thing as original folktales. We have no idea how they began – and one highly entertaining chapter (The King Who Had Twelve Sons) details how we sometimes don’t even know how they end.

I’m a huge fairytale nerd, so I guess it’s not surprising that I loved this book: one to make time stop on a hot, languid summer afternoon. I may have read it faster than I meant to, but I’ll be reading it again, very soon. It’s a story all of its own, and after all, that's what stories are for.

Seven Miles of Steel Thistles by Katherine Langrish; The Greystones Press; rrp £12.99

www.gillianphilip.com

Seven Miles of Steel Thistles by Katherine Langrish; The Greystones Press; rrp £12.99

www.gillianphilip.com

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