Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/30/2005 | Mythical land comes alive, but with too much violence
In the end, the story is rousing, but not real. Though we must suspend our disbelief to step inside Birddom, once we're there, we need to believe in it emotionally, in its characters' hopes and fears. And that goes for readers of every age.
A review of One For Sorrow, Two For Joy by Clive Woodall [paperback due March 2005]
This picturebook was inspired by an article about a consignment of 29,000 rubber toys, including ducks, that fell overboard from a container ship in 1992. Some of the toys washed up in Alaska, others passed the icebergs of the Bering Strait to find their way into the Atlantic. Carle was moved to write about 10 rubber ducks, swept from a ship in a gale, that drift in all directions. NICOLETTE JONES
Amanda Craig admires the 'theological richness' of John Dickinson's new book The Widow and the King, sequel to The Cup of the World:
Dickinson?s fusion of Viking and Christian myth becomes particularly powerful when Ambrose and his raggedy band of knights cross into the spirit world in order to defeat Paigan, and the lessons he learns concerning power and responsibility are grimly adult ones. Teenagers should love it.
She also reviews The Witch Of Clatteringshaws by Joan Aiken
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: Candy by Kevin Brooks
Nicola Morgan agrees that Kevin Brooks' fourth novel, Candy - the current ACHUKA Choice - lives up to the expectations set up by his previous three books:
Joe does have a weakness - a habit of hyper-self-conscious dithering, very cleverly portrayed. He worries on the micro-level and lets the macro drive itself, knowing he can't control it. But those small things - boy, does he worry about them! Linking arms with Candy, what should he do with his other arm: "Should I stick my elbow out? Should I hold her arm? Should I put my hand in my pocket?" As a lesson in using small details to paint character, it's perfect.
Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
Perceptive about greed and jealousy in an environment where everyone has too little, Halam?s novel reminds us that hope and love survive, while the heroine?s tender relationship with creatures and her indomitable mother are the core of the adventure and give it its humanity and power. NICOLETTE JONES
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: The Whispering Road by Livi Michael
Adele Geras, reviewing The Whispering Road by Livi Michael, especially appreciates the novel's description of Manchester in the 1830s:
Manchester nowadays looks and feels like a European city. I've lived there since 1967 and we have outdoor caf?s in the summer, Harvey Nicks and Selfridges, the Curry Mile, the best Chinese restaurants. One of the best things about Michael's novel is the picture she paints of Manchester in the 1830s: dirty, smoky, busy manufacturing for a world market while the poor lived crowded into filthy cellars. It's fascinating to register the differences. Deansgate, where it was not uncommon to find hundreds living in one building, is now home to Waterstone's and Daisy and Tom. The Portico, a library in the 1830s, is a library to this day.
Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
The Dreamwalker's Child by Steve Voake
This debut novel, by a primary school headmaster, proves that it helps to know your audience. Voake?s inventive adventure has a neatly constructed plot and brave, funny child protagonists called Sam and Skipper. It has what it takes to stop kids yawning and mucking about at the back... NICOLETTE JONES
A Little, Big success for author Chris
THE death of Chris Mawson's mother-in-law unlocked his talents as a children's author as he faced some difficult questions... ...
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Review: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver by Martin Jenkins
John Mullan admires Jonathan Swift's Gulliver
retold by Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Chris Riddell:
From Hogarth to Arthur Rackham, great illustrators have been drawn to the satire by its disproportions. Not only children's books, but also illustrated Victorian versions for adults, would try, however, to make Gulliver's ordeals look heroic. Here Gulliver is as ridiculous as the beings he encounters. Riddell finds a certain idiom for each land... ...
Sunday Times Children's Book Of The Week
This is a fine and tender portrait of (unconsummated) teenage passion, and a nail-biting adventure. It would be a great shame if teenage boys, in whose voice the story is told, were deterred by the girl?s name in the title. NICOLETTE JONES
I don't think Jones's concerns about the title are likely to affect male readership of the book. Quite the reverse really. It's not as if it's called 'Jackie' or 'Sindy'. Candy is one of those names that has alluring connotations for the male psyche, and it's never put off teenage boys discovering brief amusement and titillation in Terry Southern's humourously graphic novel of the same name...
