Edward Malnick (aged 15) takes a walk on the wild side with the latest novels for teenagers - precocious and otherwise
Malnick's taste is spot on. Read his reviews and you'll probably surmise why I say that ;-)
Reviews: November 2004 Archives
Picture book reviews, by Nicola Smyth, from the Independent On Sunday...
Searching in vain for online versions of the children's books coverage in today's Independent On Sunday, I came instead upon this strongly critical review of Philip Kerr's Children Of The Lamp. The review is by Nick Tucker and was printed in the November 22nd edition.
Amanda Craig, reviewing both Pullman's The Scarecorw And The Servant and Allan Ahlberg's The Boy, The Wolf, The Sheep And The Lettuce, finds that Ahlberg cannot match the genius of Pullman:
[Ahlberg's] latest foray, building a plot of sorts around the riddle about how a boy ferries a sheep, a wolf and a lettuce across in a boat made only for two is arch, muddled and self-indulgent. Genius demands a continual purification and renewal of talent. Pullman has realised that, and it?s why he is great.
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Find me a leg
Michael Rosen approves of Philip Pullman's latest picaresque fiction, The Scarecrow And His Servant, and also recomends his retelling of Aladdin And The Enchanted Lamp:
Pullman has gone for a full-scale retelling, returning to some of the scholarly versions of the tale. In so doing, he's avoided the over-floweriness of those editions and his dialogue is, as you'd expect, direct and to the point. It all makes for a fine gift book and good family reading.
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
Michael Rosen's SAD BOOK, ill. Quentin Blake
...Both the words and the images articulate strong emotion with admirable economy and convey a sense of the preciousness of life without being sentimental, platitudinous or falsely hopeful. At moments, the story is even funny. This is certainly a book that makes you sad, but its honesty is surprisingly uplifting.
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Snap happy
Jan Mark is impressed by the luminous simplicity of Geraldine McCaughrean's Smile!:
... ...There is material here for a long, discursive novel, perhaps a philosophical examination of the chasm between western and aboriginal cultures, or a sentimental portrayal of the chasm bridged by common humanity. In fact it is tiny, maybe 15,000 words, so simply written that a seven-year-old could read it, nudged into understanding by Ian McCaughrean's black and white renderings of the 10 photographs. Adults might consider these redundant since the writing is so luminously graphic, but this is a children's book, no crossover nonsense here. Adults chancing upon it should feel grateful that Geraldine McCaughrean believes young readers deserve work of this depth and quality.
Times review of THE SEA OF TROLLS by Nancy Farmer
Reviewing The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer, Amanda Craig cites it as the best children's novel of the year...
The life of the Norse sea-farers is so detailed that any child who reads this will pick up far more about Viking customs, beliefs and language than a hundred school text-books. It's strange that out of the four best new novels for children to be published this year, three should be about this period and people, but I have no hesitation in recommending Sea of Trolls as the best children's novel of the year.
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
The Scarecrow And His Servant by Philip Pullman
It is a remarkable skill to make simplicity and even silliness embrace such complexity yet offer children so much wisdom. Somehow, it?s not surprising that Pullman can do it. NICOLETTE JONES
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Short and sweet
Adele Geras likes Julie Burchill's Sugar Rush:
What Julie does very well is chart the ups and downs of friendship between girls. The bitchiness, the tenderness, the fads and the fashions: they're all there. She's shrewd about noting the status and position of black girls at school. She's sharp about families and she's funny an awful lot of the time.
Rich in the detail of Victorian London, from the printers? shops of Clerkenwell to the dangerous docklands, this impressive debut... NICOLETTE JONES
The Printer's Devil by Paul Bajoria
N.B. Late posting of this item due to fact that the ST online page had not been updated from previous week...
Philip Pullman’s scarecrow is no man of straw - The Herald
There should be an award for the most inane truncated press quote to appear on a book jacket. The Indy's revelation, emblazoned across Philip Pullman's latest work, The Scarecrow and his Servant, that he is "A masterly storyteller" would be a contender.
Anne Johnstone of The Herald, at the start of her review of The Scarecrow And The Servant by Philip Pullman ("probably incapable of writing a bad book").
Special offer! Half-price...
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Into the Cornish rainforest
Philip Ardagh gives The Valley of Secrets by Charmian Hussey a mixed review...
an excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Though, ultimately, I suspect that this is more a book for adults who like reading children's books than for the typical child reader, it has plenty to offer....
Are you sitting comfortably, children? Let’s talk death - The Herald
"a gem of emotional and artistic harmony"
Rosemary Goring, on the current ACHUKA Choice title, Michael Rosen's SAD BOOK
