Reviews: April 2004 Archives
In the Books section of Saturday's Telegraph, Justine Picardie and William Leith were given a page to review 'emotionally complex novels for adolescents':
Picardie reviewed Forbidden by Judy Waite ("foreboding mood of suspense"); Walking Naked by Alyssa Brugman ("sharply observed, with a tragedy at its heart"); Paradise End by Elizabeth Laird ("a galloping plot"); a new edition of Flambards by K. M. Peyton ("far more than a simple adolescent escapist fantasy"); and Boy2Girl by Terence Blacker ("a teenage book attmepting to move beyond gender stereotypes").
Leith reviewed Boy Kills Man by Matt Whyman ("excellent"); <i>Ruby Tanya by Robert Swindells ("a decent, well-turned story"); and The Dark Ground by Gillian Cross ("terrific... reminds me of William Golding's Pincher Martin)".
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | The voice of the nightingale
Adele Geras reviews In Hollow Lands by Sophie Masson:
Sophie Masson is an Australian writer of partly French descent who is becoming more and more widely read in this country, and with good reason. She writes a form of fantasy that is based firmly in folklore and the fairytale tradition. While her books may be read by any child who enjoys stories of other worlds bordering our own, the references to other times and places in her novels would stand up to scholarly scrutiny by any number of literary historians.
Not noticed from Saturday's Times, until now, Amanda Craig's enthusiastic review of The Pig Scrolls by Paul Shipton and Helping Hercules by Francesca Simon.
"the most inspired comedy to come along since the Artemis Fowl series... Shipton?s book is a triumph. The jokes crackle like grilled bacon, the plot is juicy and the book will teach your child more about Ancient Greece than a dozen textbooks." AMANDA CRAIG
"Simon?s gloriously funny Helping Hercules has been reissued with sparky new illustrations by Tony Ross." AMANDA CRAIG
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
Wriggle And Roar by Julia Donaldson & Nick Sharratt
"This book will animate, engage and stimulate babies and have nursery classes jumping about with noisy enthusiasm." NICOLETTE JONES
Nicolette Jones's Easter roundup in The Sunday Times contains few surprises or titles I haven't considered myself, apart from this one, which I have had in my daybag for several weeks, awaiting a spare hour on a train. Lack of recent trips to London means that the book is still unread. It won't stay that way for long...:
Steven Herrick's The Simple Gift (Egmont ?4.99) is a remarkable work for young adults written as a series of free-verse poems. It is about a 15-year-old boy who leaves home for a hobo life, finds companionship, the consummation of first love and a home in a deserted train carriage. This is a small gem with wide appeal. [NICOLETTE JONES]
Celebrating the big fat fantasy
Joint review of Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord and Inkheart by a reviewer who is somehat perplexed by their popularity...
The great popularity of [The Thief Lord] with children is something of a mystery. It is very slow to get started (usually a death sentence in itself with the digital generation), the fantasy element doesn't appear until the last 75 pages, there's little emotional involvement, and the rest of the story meanders as much as the winding canals of Venice.
Telegraph | Arts | Black Beauty' was protest literature
Dark Horse: A Life of Anna Sewell
Adrienne E. Gavin
A biography of Anna Sewell reviewed in the Telegraph:
"...it seems clear that Sewell's novel should be regarded as a work of protest literature, the forerunner less of Lassie or the novels of Christine Pullein-Thompson than of today's animal-rights activism and anti-hunting lobby."
In Dinah Hall's latest roundup of children's books for The Sunday Telegraph she reviews fifteen titles, ranging from picture books for the young through to teenage fiction. She will have read many times more than this before making her final selection. The fact that reviewers of children's books are called upon to review multiple titles in this way is both limiting (each book can only be given a paragraph or less) and empowering (the reviewer is left to make the final decision of what is included in the review).
In preparing this particular roundup, Hall disliked one title so much, she has been moved to issue a warning: "Pulling Princes by Tyne O'Connell is a repellent piece of fiction, albeit mildly amusing in parts, about an American girl at an elite boarding school learning to fit in with Sloaney It-girls." The title is seen as indicative of "the teen equivalent of chick-lit - a sort of toxic version of Angela Brazil." However, Hall is impressed by Gossip Girl, "a far superior example of the genre" and "cleverly done".
I am rather ashamed to say that I have not yet read Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse, and will do so now, based on Hall's enthausiasm - "a small miracle of a book that makes most novels look like a waste of words."
Scotsman.com News - News Archive - Gunman in the shadows
Teenage fiction reviews...
You have to register with the site to read The Scotsman's online content - but registration is free and painless.
The kids are all write - [Sunday Herald]
Lindsey Fraser reviews the best new children's books to hit the shelves in time for the Easter school break...
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
The Puddleman by Raymond Briggs
"Once again, as with The Snowman and Father Christmas, Briggs places magic in the context of the everyday, and both amuses and moves us. Puddles will never be the same again...." NICOLETTE JONES
The Financial Times published it Easter roundup of children's books (reviewed by Jill SLotover) in its weekend magazine, Saturday April 3rd. The online version of these reviews is sadly restricted to subscribers.
Amanda Craig interviews Anthony Horowitz for The Times.
Highly recommended.
"...he has been signed up for $1 million to write a new fantasy series currently titled Raven's Gate which he describes as 'Stephen King for kids'.
... ...
I?m taking a break for a year to write the Raven?s Gate books. I?m signed up until the year 2010, which is crazy..."
See also, in the same edition of The Times, Craig's review of Basilisk by N. M. Browne and The Conquerors by David McKee.
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Daughter of empire
Diana Samuels reviews Other Echoes by Adele Geras (a previous ACHUKA CHoice title) in The Guardian:
"The beauty of the book is its subtlety and the insightful way in which the bigger picture of the after-effects of war and the colonial experience are interwoven into the portrait of a growing girl... ..."
Nick Tucker reviews 12+ fiction
Christina Hardyment reviews 8-12 fiction in The Independent...
Sally Williams reviews picture books in The Independent...
2 reviews from Japan...
