On being boys
Last week, after a flurry of Famous Five books, I read Gene Kemp’s The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler. One thing that is immediately striking when coming Tyke Tyler to Famous Five is (spoiler alert!) that in both books one of the main characters is a
On being boys
Last week, after a flurry of Famous Five books, I read Gene Kemp’s The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler. One thing that is immediately striking when coming Tyke Tyler to Famous Five is (spoiler alert!) that in both books one of the main characters is a
On visiting bookish places
All right, so I know that Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals isn’t on the list of 1001 Children’s Books, but: a) I think it should be; b) I just finished rereading it; and c) I don’t care. It’s one
On visiting bookish places
All right, so I know that Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals isn’t on the list of 1001 Children’s Books, but: a) I think it should be; b) I just finished rereading it; and c) I don’t care. It’s one
Michael Ende on why Bastian stole the Neverending Story
“If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you over a book, forgetting cold and hunger — If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting
Michael Ende on why Bastian stole the Neverending Story
“If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you over a book, forgetting cold and hunger — If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting
On enduring love
Last week I was in a Famous Five frenzy, reading the first six books in the series back to back. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, is on the list of 1001 Children’s Books, but reading up to book
On enduring love
Last week I was in a Famous Five frenzy, reading the first six books in the series back to back. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, is on the list of 1001 Children’s Books, but reading up to book
On barley-sugar fingers and the stars Christmas shopping
When I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, I bought a lovely, old fashioned edition of Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. It is pink and white striped, and has a black and white drawing of Mary Poppins being pulled
On barley-sugar fingers and the stars Christmas shopping
When I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, I bought a lovely, old fashioned edition of Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. It is pink and white striped, and has a black and white drawing of Mary Poppins being pulled
On questioning and contemplating
I’m in a bit of a Second World War binge at the moment. Just before I read Goodnight Mister Tom I sped through another favourite from when I was younger: Jackie French’s Hitler’s Daughter. A short book, only 135 pages long, it tells the story
On questioning and contemplating
I’m in a bit of a Second World War binge at the moment. Just before I read Goodnight Mister Tom I sped through another favourite from when I was younger: Jackie French’s Hitler’s Daughter. A short book, only 135 pages long, it tells the story
On resilient readers
The last time I read Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorin I was twelve years old, and reading it for class. I remember enjoying reading it – I remember thinking that finally I was reading a book for school that I actually
On resilient readers
The last time I read Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorin I was twelve years old, and reading it for class. I remember enjoying reading it – I remember thinking that finally I was reading a book for school that I actually
On encountering books in real life
I went to Melbourne last weekend, and in one of its many bookshops I discovered a reissued publication of a Diana Wynne Jones book I hadn’t read, so the last week I have been sucked into a Diana Wynne Jones
On encountering books in real life
I went to Melbourne last weekend, and in one of its many bookshops I discovered a reissued publication of a Diana Wynne Jones book I hadn’t read, so the last week I have been sucked into a Diana Wynne Jones
Henry Ward Beecher on words
“All words are pegs to hang ideas on.” ― Henry Ward Beecher
On friends that I wished I had
I so, so wish that I had read L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables for the first time when I was eleven, not when I was twenty-three. Not that I at all regret reading Anne of Green Gables this week; however, while
On friends that I wished I had
I so, so wish that I had read L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables for the first time when I was eleven, not when I was twenty-three. Not that I at all regret reading Anne of Green Gables this week; however, while
1001 Children's Books 