story time books

I had a conversation recently with another book lover who talked about an author being a great storyteller, so that she felt hooked by the story and wanted to keep reading, but not a great writer, so that the experience was ultimately less satisfying than it might have been. Geraldine McCaughrean is both, a wonderful teller of tales and a writer whose every word is chosen carefully, and this novel is further evidence of that. Rusti is a twelve-year-old boy, a Mongol warrior in the army of Tamberlaine the Great. Kavi is a boy of similar age, a Hindu mahout, an elephant rider defending the city of Delhi against the Mongol hordes. So we have a historical context, two characters from opposite sides, and when Tamberlaine decides to spare the elephants, and asks Rusti to look after them, he disguises Kavi as Kavita, a slave girl, to have his help. The two slowly become friends, and as events continue Rusti discovers things about himself, and about Tamberlaine’s chronicler, which mean his allegiance is questioned. Too much more of the plot would spoil this story for readers, but it is a wonderful read with terrific pace, interesting characters who face moral dilemmas, and beautiful writing. Great for good readers from upper primary and older, and many adults would enjoy this too. I loved it.

Told by Glenn Colquhoun and illustrated by Ali Teo, two of the best we have in their respective businesses, this is sheer delight. Take some traditional, and some less traditional, stories, set them in a place, “That-place”, short for “That-place-where-Matiretoha-waved-goodbye”, supply two listeners, Hareata and Brianne and some residents of That-place who tell the stories to them, and you’d have this book, if you were as good a storyteller and writer as Glenn Colquhoun and as good an illustrator as Ali Teo. Some stories are familiar: the creation myth, some Maui stories, one of which is in graphic format, Hinemoa and Tutanekai which is told as a rap; and some are less so, and I suspect originals.  I particularly like the story about how the guitar came to be part of the family. Great read aloud material, great humour, all written with a poet’s ear for speech and eye for detail.  I can’t wait to take it home and read it all slowly, savouring every word.

Book Three in the trilogy by Charlie Fletcher which started with Stone Heart and continued with Iron Hand is out now, only in hardback at $35, but for me it’s worth every penny. The first book, reviewed on this site in November 2007, I thought was very good, the second (July 2008) just as well written and building on the first, but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and the three books together are a terrific achievement. The trilogy has fantastic pace, the characters are as well drawn as any in children’s literature, the battle between good and evil is finely balanced and wonderfully described, and the writing is beautiful. I think this series stands alongside Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy as some of the best writing for children (or anyone else for that matter) of the last few years. It probably won’t be as successful or as widely read as Harry Potter’s story, but it deserves to be. I particularly like that fact that the line between the sides is based on those characters with heart and those without, and many of the minor characters are wonderful. The soldiers, kings and queens, Shackleton, the Black Friar, Spout the gargoyle (the taint who is on the side of the spits), and many others have their own distinctive voices. Charlie Fletcher has a wonderful ear for accents and idiom, and the characters are very well rounded, in spite of many of them being made of stone or bronze. Wonderful stuff, very highly recommended, especially for those who like their fantasy to ring true. I very much hope that Fletcher is writing more for children.

This is like a Dangerous Book for Grandparents, with a similarly eclectic mix of things from family history, through sports and games, reading and making things, history and geography (with the same British bias of the original Dangerous Book for Boys). There’s songs and music, how to look at art, cooking, collections, and heaps more. An interesting book for someone who is quavering slightly at the thought of grandparenthood, as a reminder of how many things there are to do with children. Even lists of classic books for various ages, many of which can be seen on our shelves.

Kate Thompson is a great storyteller, and here, in a beautiful little hardback book with a black velvet cover she tells the story using the voice of a small boy, a raggamuffin or urchin, I suppose. He’s telling this story to a gentleman, for a reason the reader doesn’t know until the end, so I won’t spoil it.  The story is possibly connected to that most famous of highwaymen, Dick Turpin, it’s illustrated throughout by Jonny Duddle, it’s only just over 100 pages of largish font, so it would be easily read by good readers of seven and upwards, but the writing, and the presentation are so lovely that it would be a pity if only people as young as that read it. Great story, well told, in a book that’s as nice to hold as any I’ve had in a long time. Beautiful.

Thornspell is a first novel by Helen Lowe, a Dunedin writer, but this is not published in New Zealand but by Alfred A. Knopf in New York, which is part of Random House. It is a very good read for anyone over nine or ten and up into teenage and adult. The old story of Sleeping Beauty you probably know, but this comes at that story, or a variation of it, from a different direction, and gives us the story of the handsome prince and how he gets to be in the right place at the right time to wake the sleeping princess. Prince Sigismund has grown up with stories of spells and enchantments, nights and dragons, beautiful princesses and heroic quests, but when he begins to dream in a different way he starts to believe that he may be involved himself, in at least one of those stories. And when characters from his dreams begin to appear in real life, his quest begins. Lovely writing, wonderful characters, both human and magical, and a strong story make this well worth a read.

The wonderful Mick Inkpen has done it again. This book was published last year, but is just released in paperback. Baggy Brown is a teddy bear, Number One in a limited edition of 1000 very special bears made to celebrated the first birthday of Princess Sophinyiniannia, first born child of the King and Queen of Thingland. But a minor miscalculation in the factory has Baggy Brown come off the production line in the wrong place, so that he comes out looking far from regal and is trodden on by Jack, on of the factory workers, who takes him home for his son Alfie. When the television carries a story about the missing royal bear, Alfie takes him on a coal barge to the palace to return Baggy Brown (or Number One) to his rightful owner. But the princess likes Alfie more than the bear, and twenty years later they are married and other happily-ever-after-like things happen. Delightful.

This beautiful little story by Michael Morpurgo was published as part of Singing for Mrs Pettigrew: a story-maker’s journey in 2006. Now it’s in a small book of its own with beautifully evocative illustrations by Michael Forman. Morpurgo is a wonderful writer, often of historical fiction for children, bringing alive earlier times with his words. This is the story of a journalist telling how she got her first real interview because her boss has had a skiing accident. She goes to Venice to interview Paolo Levi the famous violinist who is about to give a 50th birthday concert. The only real information she is given is that she should not ask “the Mozart question” or anything personal, but in her youth and naivety she asks him how he got started with the violin, and he tells her the whole story he has told no one until now. Beautifully done, with wonderful selection of detail to tell the story, and the illustrations are exquisite.

This is a fundraiser for Boulcott School in Lower Hutt, written by Erin Moyle and illustrated by children from the school. In many cases that sort of pedigree would mean worthy but boring, but this is a lot better than many cases. It has a strong story about a boy called Rawiri who loves a pohutukawa tree at the end of the bay where he lives.  His grandfather tells him that the tree is an octopus who had to escape from a Great White Shark. Rawiri would love to climb among its tentacle-like branches, but the tree’s positioning on the edge of the cliff makes that impossible, until a storm undermines the cliff and the tree falls onto the beach. Rawiri spends a day climbing, but when he brings his grandfather then next day the tree has gone. “The sea has decided it is finally safe for Octopus to go home,” his grandfather tells him.  The layout is  interesting, with some lines of the text swirling across the page like waves, or branches, and the illustrations by six children from the school are great too, with one person drawing the grandfather throughout, another Rawiri, and a third the tree. A great effort, well thought through and executed, available through the school or here at Story Time Books for Kids.

I reviewed the first volume of this trilogy in June this year, and here’s the second, which has been in the shop for a few weeks, but I’ve only just managed to read it. If you read the June review first (by entering Chronicles of Stone in the search window to the right on the home page) you will have a better context for this one. Twins Trei and Souk find the Northmen, or are found by them, but are treated as spies by a very suspicious tribe who jealously guard the secret of their weapons, which is what has pulled Trei there. They have to work hard for respect and trust, especially Souk, whose healing powers threaten the tribe’s shaman, but also Trei, whose interest in the weapons is impossible to conceal fully. On the back cover there’s a quote from Graham Beattie calling it a “compelling, fast-paced, wonderfully told epic journey [...] a simply stunning piece of writing.” I’ll second that. Like Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, below) Ford is equally good with the action scenes and the philosophical questions, not a particularly common combination. The characters and story ring true, the action ebbs and flows, the writing is lyrical, with wonderful descriptions of the harsh environment and the stone workers’ craft. The patience the twins have to develop to be accepted is also beautifully treated. Highly recommended from Intermediate age students up. Roll on Volume Three: Tribal Ash.