Issue No. 57 - July 1989
Cover Story
The stunning photograph on our cover by George Bernard is taken from Strawberry by Jennifer Coldrey, published by A & C Black in the 'Stopwatch' series (0 7136 3052 3, £4.50).
Articles In This Issue
They all told me children's non-fiction would be difficult. Everybody finds it difficult - publishers, teachers, librarians, and, in particular, children's books review magazines! Difficult, that is, to get it right whether you're making it, choosing it, or reviewing it. The cop-out, of course, is not to worry too much, just to work with what's there. But that ain't the BfK way, nor, I suspect, will it be for the vast majority of our readers. More of us are beginning to grapple with
MORE »`...undoubtedly one of the most challenging areas for the information book publisher.'
Eleanor von Schweinitz takes a look at some recent material for nursery and infant schools
MORE »Roger McGough interviewed by Chris Powling.
MORE »Pat Thomson concludes her seven-part series
MORE »John Dunne, Assistant County Librarian (Children's and Schools) for Hampshire County Library, reports on...
MORE »An update of TV, Film and Radio information
MORE »Are You Booked Up?
MORE »Reviews In This Issue
Penelope Lively explores the labyrinths created by the plumbing, insulation and waste disposal arrangements of an ordinary suburban house, and finds a secret world inhabited by creatures whose lives are as magical and humdrum as our own.
This is a marvellous book: rich, evocative, thought-provoking and - an added bonus - immensely readable. Young Gabriel, apprenticed to a bullying stonemason, can endure no more of his cruel treatment and flees to hide, unwittingly, amongst the props of a group of travelling Mystery players.
Zot and his unlikely escapades have already proved popular with my readers in the original hardcover version and now it is good to see that more new solo readers will have the opportunity to enjoy the five short episodes about the very scruffy dog and his friend, Clive.
Alex and Roy are back for the fifth time round with a series of stories in which the cantankerous pals harass their long-suffering families, negotiate various adult rituals, and repeatedly fall out with each other over trifles.
Fantasy readers of my acquaintance like books to be long and involved so this one ought to prove popular. After a short American version of modern English country life, the heroine, Becky, gets whisked back to very ancient Kent where, by magic, mystery, bloodshed and mysticism, she manages to fulfil the statutory prophesy and save the centaurs for a future time when we'll most need them.
A large-format colourful book, full of rich pattern. A double spread is given over to each letter, which gradually changes its shape to become the object depicting the letter. Although alphabet books are not at this moment very fashionable, this would be useful in the classroom or at home.
A special book this, covering the experiences of Anna as she is pitchforked into coping alone when an emergency strikes the family and her mother has to rush her younger sister to hospital with appendicitis.
This tense, fast-moving, short thriller might make an acceptable early class-reader. There are plenty of cliff-hanging moments and high spots to make for easy serialisation and to keep interest going. Little did Tim know when he spied on the stranger in the street that the same man would be in Tim's house one night brandishing a loaded gun and keeping Tim and sister Sue captive.
There was a rapturous response to these two books from my Infants. Barney, a real favourite from TV, is a large bumbling Old English Sheepdog who, with a crew of unlikely friends, bumbles his way from close catastrophe to near disaster.
There was a rapturous response to these two books from my Infants. Barney, a real favourite from TV, is a large bumbling Old English Sheepdog who, with a crew of unlikely friends, bumbles his way from close catastrophe to near disaster.
'Do not be troubled, God, though they say "mine" of all thing that permit it patiently. They are like wind that lightly strokes the boughs and says MY tree.' (Rainer Maria Rilke) It is Captain Packham's obsession with owning all around him - house, land, estate workers - which leads to a paralysing accident witnessed only by Jerry, whose father is in Packham's employ.
Jessica and Lizzie are enduring a rain-sodden holiday in a Cornish cottage with their mother, step-father and inimical step-brothers, when the monotony is broken by the appearance of ghostly, threatening notes on the bulletin board.
This is a collection of stories about Melinda, a little girl with red hair who lives in a city. She's very much today's child and her environment is very much today's city; workmen, building sites, lost purses, unemployment, do-it-yourself and pregnant cats all feature in these stories.
What begins as a hunting trip into the desert becomes a man-hunt. Ben, the young guide, is forced to fight for his life by the ruthless businessman Madec who has shot an old prospector, probably in error, but now frames it to look like Ben's action and then forces him to strip and try to make his way out of the desert.
Despite this being the fifth book in the series, I had never met Dilly 'the world's naughtiest dinosaur' before. It seems that I've been missing something because Dilly went down very well with my children.
I usually enjoy Jan Mark's books but found this a bit disappointing. The plot seemed a bit over-stretched and the humour a bit flat, despite extravagant, contrary claims on the cover. Hannah's involvement with West Stenning Manor, a centre for arty short courses, is based on her dreamy love of the building, not its shifting human population.
This second part of the trilogy begun by Starry Night (the final part is out in hardback now) shifts the focus to a Republican housing estate in a small town. It catches the everyday realities which are both the ordinary and the awful.
Prejudices get another kicking when we look at Wayland's Know Your Pet series. Statements like 'editorial planning by Jollands Editions' on the back of the title page breed suspicion right away. Will this be a series planned, designed and advised upon by a dozen or more consultants, but actually written by nobody? Answer - no.
Nasty goings-on in a Southend comprehensive, which seems to have an abundance of nasty little worms, most notable of which is 'The Blob'. When he gets shut out of the changing rooms minus his clothes a web of intrigue and skulduggery is set in train involving pupils, staff and caretakers alike.
The series should cater for that large group of children who are so fascinated by the strange and ghostly, and these two show the enormous range possible within the genre. Susan Price is always worth reading and here she has a strongly realistic story about Sarah spending a holiday with no-nonsense Gran and Uncle.
A highly moral tale about how Little Tiger is seduced away from his nice, ordered life with Little Bear by the loose living of Little Pig. But, alas, all is a snare and a delusion! Once in Little Pig's house, Little Tiger has to do all the work; he decides to go back home, but where is Little Bear? Looking for Little Tiger, of course, and all ends happily when they find each other.
The fact that Jane, Ben and Toby's 'Holiday Child' guest is half Pegler (the witch half) and half Brown (the human half) results in some tricky situations for the children, like the time mum's shopping trolley is transformed first into a plaid pony and then into four toads, all to save trouble! And then there's the matter of the Smirk .
This friendly little book was written as a result of Alison Prince's long-term residency at a Lincolnshire primary school. How is the main character, evacuated from London to Lincolnshire to escape the Blitz.
'I couldn't think of what to do with my life, what to want to do, because all the things I wanted to do required normal people - and I wasn't normal any more. I was abnormal.' When Izzy's drunken boyfriend wraps them and his car around a tree, the girl is the one whose scars are so obviously physical as well as mental - she loses a leg.
I read and enjoyed Stick and this latest offering from Barbara Jacobs has much of the same sharply observed teenage behaviour, with a stimulating variety of thoughtfully drawn characters. Megan and Bel accept a challenge from Terry, Bel's boyfriend, to get from Liverpool to Scotland on five pounds each.
What can one say about Shirley Hughes - except that she is magic! Every book becomes a favourite almost before you open the cover - with pages to savour, new things to discover at each reading and others to treasure as old friends.
The first two books featuring Lucy and her wolf friend, 2.15, who acquired his unlikely name from a train, were a great success with my children both as read-alouds and for solo reading, so I've no doubt that this will be a winner too.
Maisie Middleton is an old favourite which makes this scrumptious new book about her all the more welcome. The prospect for Maisie, a confirmed tomboy, of being a bridesmaid at her Aunt Rosy's wedding is clearly appalling.
The formula is so successful that reviews are not important. This has long sections about football matches which keep particular readers very content with interludes of 'Boys Own' morality, playing for the team, which is wonderfully preserved and unselfconscious.
Another glorious book from the team who gave us Leo the Late Bloomer. Milton's efforts to entertain himself when the whole world sleeps, and goes on sleeping and... sleeping, gains an immediate response of sympathetic understanding from anyone sharing the book.
This book presents a brisk tour of recurrent motifs in fantasy writing for children. There is a nocturnal sky voyage in which a boy, assisted by kindly animals, seeks to rescue a girl kidnapped by monsters.
'No pets' is the rule in the flats where Marigold, Rashid and Niki live and the Mean Man is there to see that the rule is enforced, so it takes a bit of lateral thinking when Marigold discovers the Sleepysaurus.
Don't be deterred by the cover, which promises 'a heartrending contemporary story' - this is no Barbara Cartland in disguise! It's the story of Elaine's involvement with the activities of a local animal rights group.
Intended for a younger audience, Hodder's series seeks to emulate the successful BBC Watch book Then and Now by contrasting modern social phenomena with those common earlier in the century. Emphasis is placed upon personal memories and anecdotes, with questions which are designed to actively involve the young reader and point to parallels and contrasts between past and present.
With the re-emergence of the crcket season I realise again that however much I long to spend whole days at the County Ground or tele-wise at Old Trafford or the Oval, the best I can probably manage is the recorded highlights.
Sister isn't Tom's real sister at all but his small sister Annie's imaginary friend upon whom she blames all her misdeeds; or is she imaginary after all? Tom begins to have his doubts. Then there is his brother Jack whose imaginary friends take the form of the Telequark and Trogs whom he puts in his comic strips.
One of the comments quoted on the back cover of this book describes it as abounding in 'visual artyjokes' and this, as well as being a good summing up of it, also explains why my children didn't really take to it, I think.
Social realism novels? This one takes some beating - older brothers sent down for stealing and drug-trafficking, sisters on the game, all and sundry on the dole, graffiti-daubed council estates, racial prejudice, gang warfare, biased policemen, the North/South divide, self-interested council officials; thank goodness there's a secret garden where Ian can escape, find a kind of fulfilment and a hope for the future.
This Wild West parody was first published ten years ago. The Slocum Boys, a pair of mean and not too intelligent varmints, besiege Mrs Osgood Cabel Gains and her baby in their cabin at Benson's Bend while her husband the sheriff is out misdirecting his posse.
The Tillermans again - this time with Dicey at college and James increasingly determined to trace the father he never knew. His dissatisfaction with himself stimulates him to try to discover what he can of his intellectual and emotional inhertance in an effort to explain what he sees as his failure to communicate, his tendency to hide behind his desire to succeed - which, in itself, is a subterfuge.
It's healthy to have your prejudices overturned occasionally and Splash! has caused me immense well-being. Written by two unfamiliar but exotic names and illustrated by a third, preceded by heart-bestrewn dedications and featuring animals in a predominantly pink bathroom setting, the book creates a first impression of unmitigatedly foreign (no, worse, American) soppiness.
These two are the pick of the bunch. Each book sets limited targets and meets them admirably. Texts are brief but clear, and emphasis is on illustration to create interest and retain attention. In The 1960s the significant world events are shown (Cuba, Vietnam, Independence) and supported by a detailed chronology, but the feel of the period is also recreated by the inclusion of the more ephemeral (Daleks.
These two are the pick of the bunch. Each book sets limited targets and meets them admirably. Texts are brief but clear, and emphasis is on illustration to create interest and retain attention. In The 1960s the significant world events are shown (Cuba, Vietnam, Independence) and supported by a detailed chronology, but the feel of the period is also recreated by the inclusion of the more ephemeral (Daleks.
This is a real winner, completely captivating the children. Albert, a performing circus bear, moves to the zoo when his circus goes out of business and, bored in his cage, decides to practise his tricks. The zoo visitors are delighted and shower him with titbits despite the warning notices (our Infants were very shocked and indignant at this point!) with the inevitable result that he becomes too fat and has to go on a drastic diet.
Both these stories, labelled 'The Baddies', deal with the problem of children who are reluctant to do what their parents want (i.e. clean their teeth or go to bed). They are attractive, easy to handle and give a realistic view of parents struggling to help children get ordinary, everyday things done.
When Dad tells him where babies come from, eight-year-old Chris duly goes outside to search for one in the cabbage patch and astonishingly finds a bright green infant. Chris is highly delighted, at first that is, but the baby's habit of holding its breath and turning purple unless Chris is on hand makes life extremely difficult for the lad, especially at school.
Set in sixteenth-century Scotland at the time of the Reformation. That's ambitious perhaps but the story follows well-known patterns. Davie takes his blind sister Lizzie to St Triduana's sacred well, hoping for a cure, against the wishes of their step-father who is a follower of Knox.
Energetic, almost comic book style of adventures with the girls' gang getting their revenge on awful boys and some conventional versions of the female. It's set in fourth-year Juniors, it will remind lots of readers of what school might be like, it's fun, easy to read and there's a nice play at the end.
There is a sly little joke at the end of this book which relies entirely on the ability to read the expression on Granpa's face. Some children 'got' this hidden meaning, others didn't, but that didn't stop them enjoying the story.
Another of Joan Lingard's fiery heronies here, fighting for a cause she believes in. It's not Sadie, this time, trying to overcome the senseless divide in Northern Ireland but Jodie, determined to prevent the opening of a nuclear power plant in her town.
This seems to be a good month for stories aimed at the young fluent reader. This witty and original story is exactly right for seven to eight-year-olds with a sense of humour and a liking for unusual situations.
Another respectable offering from Kelpie paperbacks - a series well worth investigation. Philip Gilmore is horrified to learn that he is to live, temporarily, with his 'stuck-up' spinster Aunt Jane and his cousin Susan, product of a 'posh' school.
A fairly lunatic story perfectly matched by fairly lunatic illustrations. A king who is dotty about his pet birds drives the queen to get rid of them. In retaliation he gets his magician to turn him into a bird, making his wife's life a misery until, finally, the great British art of compromise is reached.
17-year-old Stacy McAdams wakes after four years in a coma to discover that her mother was killed by the same man who shot her. The futility of her mother's death angers Stacy into probing her dead memory for the face of the murderer.
This is an excellent collection of stories. Nearly all were new to me and I liked them very much. The choice of authors is very wide-ranging and includes Dorothy Edwards, Arthur Ransome, Pamela Oldfield and Iris Grender as well as some lesser known names and, of course, our old friend Anon.
Fay Sampson has already shown herself to be a writer of great invention and power, and this, the fifth of the Pangur Ban stories, will keep devotees content. New readers, as so often with fantasy, may
A very unusual idea gives this story a particular interest and shows that Philippa Pearce knows what will intrigue the younger, picture book reader. Timmy loses one of his milk teeth but, instead of giving it to the tooth fairy, decides to wrap it up and keep it.
Both these stories, labelled 'The Baddies', deal with the problem of children who are reluctant to do what their parents want (i.e. clean their teeth or go to bed). They are attractive, easy to handle and give a realistic view of parents struggling to help children get ordinary, everyday things done.
Vernon, a sadistic vampire, escapes from a spell of petrification and returns to his old haunts in Kathchem-by-the-Throat to wreak murderous vengeance on his family and fellow citizens. The subsequent machinations involve an invisible man, a transmuted one-eyed hunchback called Igon, and a werewolf who turns into a selection of Australian mammals.
The title and cover alone will probably restrict readership to girls, which is a pity because there are a few heroic princes and fearsome demon-gods in evidence too, which ought to take the boys' fancy.
A really satisfying book with the little dinosaur hero Boland a victim to the bully Tyrone the Horrible, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He valiantly strives to find some way of getting out of a horrible situati
Westall plunges straight into the mystery - what is the creature buried in the perspex coffin inside the hillside cairn? The calm of the meticulously described rural community is from the start belied by this discovery.
This story is set in Manhattan where the school system has labelled Gertrude Hollings 'learning disabled' because she finds indulgence in imagination games preferable to struggling with the arbitrary symbolism of classroom workbooks.
If you have a child in your house or in your class who is interested in cars, this is the book for you. It is about William who loves any kind of vehicle and gets enormous pleasure from playing with cars, ambulances, transporters and lorries while inventing crashes and other dramatic happenings.
'Ace!' was how the kids described it. 'I must have it!' has been the response of nearly every adult I've shown it to. It's one of those books you know you'll have to replace again and again as it gets worn out by eager readers chasing the delicious details and jokes across the pages.