Children's lit, assorted
Jun. 7th, 2009 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandraI have spent the afternoon attempting to extract a large amount of clematis from a rose bush, a process which involved acquiring a lot of scratches as well as snagging myself on the rose bush at frequent intervals. I am also now wondering if I'm allowed to put the clematis in the recycling bin as it is an official Noxious Weed, but I'll deal with that later. Fortunately my book backlog is less problematic.
I have some longer reviews I want to get on to, so this will be relatively brief.
Noel Streatfeild, Apple Bough. Family including a child musical prodigy (Sebastian, violin) spend years trekking around the world on tours before the other three children demand the chance to settle down and have a proper home. I have some sympathy for them, but it’s worn by the fact that they deal with the travelling by insisting on British food and British schedules regardless of where they are (to be fair, this is largely at the insistence of their nanny) and it takes another hit when the solution is for Sebastian to buy not one but two houses from his tour earnings. One of the houses appears to come with a Cockney couple who cook, help out, and have no indication of any needs of their own. I do actually like the children as characters, but it’s not the best story for them.
E.M Channon, The Honour of the House. I’m fond of this story, which is about a new girl (Paulina) at a school who ends up in the loser house, along with the last four of an appalling family, the Kibbles, who have contributed almost nothing to school life while being there. The missing parent backstory is more than a little unlikely (and I am unhappy about apparently sympathetic characters who charge around looking for savage tribes upon which to dispense British justice, even if it does give them a chance to stumble across lost amnesiac anthropologists adopted as witch doctors/village pets), but the school stuff is much more believable, and the characters well-drawn. I keep meaning to see what else the author did.
Elinor Lyon, The house in hiding. First of the Ian and Sovra books, about a brother and sister growing up in the Scottish highlands, on the coast. They are enthusiastic if slightly inept (the Ransome children never accidentally burnt down their lodgings), and endearing, and the countryside is great. Again, the central plot relating to Alistair’s return is contrived, but there’s a nice twist to it and everybody’s reactions work. My favourite in this series is still Run Away Home, because I like Cathie and her determination (well, yes, there's also a fairly contrived story there too) but all the ones I've read are enjoyable. Stonecarver's Journey is the one I've only read once and am hoping for a reprint by the same press (Fidra Books) who did this one.
Phillis Garrard, Hilda series. NZ school stories, published 1929, 1932 and 1938, respectively, and set in a state school in Taihape. Interesting from a historical point of view, and there’s a nice emphasis on the bush setting (Hilda quite often skips school to go exploring), but the background family set-up is one I’m not wild about – tomboy daughter with adored father, long-dead mother, faithful housekeeper and older, more sardonic figure (in this case the headmaster) who imposes order on the daughter’s life and is mentioned by the father as a future husband (it’s possible he’s kidding, but I can see why he says it – the narrative seems to be pushing them that way).
Social history moments – I’m very taken by Hilda’s letter to her aunt, in which she says that she doesn’t want to go to boarding school because she’s a Labourite; there’s a Maori guy in the class (distinguishable by being referred to as Maori Tom; the teacher calls him the Maori version of Tom, but that isn’t actually his Maori name, which was an odd detail that never went anywhere) who does get to be good at things like spelling; wide acceptance of corporal punishment for all. Also, at one point one of the boys brings a weta in, and it’s described as being 12 inches long – this would truly be terrifying, but even the rare giant weta don’t get past 8 inches, and your average weta is about 3 inches in metric equivalents. There is apparently one more in the series, which I will keep a fairly low-key eye out for. I like these books for what they do, but it's not really what I most like to read.
Doreen Swinburne, Jean's new junior. Nursing series. Main character takes on new job, is supposed to sort out problematic junior (actually, she does almost nothing about this at work, although she does discover a long-lost cousin of the junior’s family by recognising his snuff-box) and ends up getting engaged to steady doctor boyfriend. Social history moment – they have a whole wing for quarantining the infectious polio cases. Forgettable.
Constance White, Girls in flight. Trainee air hostess for Irish airline go through brief career overview and romantic entanglements. Author nobly resists the desire to have a dramatic rescue/life-threatening event scene, which I approve of, but the characters (three leads) are a bit too indistinguishable and the romantic tensions with various boyfriends etc not especially involving.
Pamela Rushby, Circles of Stone. Not as good as the Hipchicks; although it's competently done, the basic concept - present day girl gets catapulted back 2000 years via stone circle - is a hard sell, as the present day girl (Lea) doesn't really have any impact on the past; she could be having visions as easily. I like that Lea is Australian, and I like the hippy/artsy/Celtic community she's part of; I like Ana (the past girl she meets) as well, and it's all nicely done, but the actual concept is not new or pushed past its limits.
I have some longer reviews I want to get on to, so this will be relatively brief.
Noel Streatfeild, Apple Bough. Family including a child musical prodigy (Sebastian, violin) spend years trekking around the world on tours before the other three children demand the chance to settle down and have a proper home. I have some sympathy for them, but it’s worn by the fact that they deal with the travelling by insisting on British food and British schedules regardless of where they are (to be fair, this is largely at the insistence of their nanny) and it takes another hit when the solution is for Sebastian to buy not one but two houses from his tour earnings. One of the houses appears to come with a Cockney couple who cook, help out, and have no indication of any needs of their own. I do actually like the children as characters, but it’s not the best story for them.
E.M Channon, The Honour of the House. I’m fond of this story, which is about a new girl (Paulina) at a school who ends up in the loser house, along with the last four of an appalling family, the Kibbles, who have contributed almost nothing to school life while being there. The missing parent backstory is more than a little unlikely (and I am unhappy about apparently sympathetic characters who charge around looking for savage tribes upon which to dispense British justice, even if it does give them a chance to stumble across lost amnesiac anthropologists adopted as witch doctors/village pets), but the school stuff is much more believable, and the characters well-drawn. I keep meaning to see what else the author did.
Elinor Lyon, The house in hiding. First of the Ian and Sovra books, about a brother and sister growing up in the Scottish highlands, on the coast. They are enthusiastic if slightly inept (the Ransome children never accidentally burnt down their lodgings), and endearing, and the countryside is great. Again, the central plot relating to Alistair’s return is contrived, but there’s a nice twist to it and everybody’s reactions work. My favourite in this series is still Run Away Home, because I like Cathie and her determination (well, yes, there's also a fairly contrived story there too) but all the ones I've read are enjoyable. Stonecarver's Journey is the one I've only read once and am hoping for a reprint by the same press (Fidra Books) who did this one.
Phillis Garrard, Hilda series. NZ school stories, published 1929, 1932 and 1938, respectively, and set in a state school in Taihape. Interesting from a historical point of view, and there’s a nice emphasis on the bush setting (Hilda quite often skips school to go exploring), but the background family set-up is one I’m not wild about – tomboy daughter with adored father, long-dead mother, faithful housekeeper and older, more sardonic figure (in this case the headmaster) who imposes order on the daughter’s life and is mentioned by the father as a future husband (it’s possible he’s kidding, but I can see why he says it – the narrative seems to be pushing them that way).
Social history moments – I’m very taken by Hilda’s letter to her aunt, in which she says that she doesn’t want to go to boarding school because she’s a Labourite; there’s a Maori guy in the class (distinguishable by being referred to as Maori Tom; the teacher calls him the Maori version of Tom, but that isn’t actually his Maori name, which was an odd detail that never went anywhere) who does get to be good at things like spelling; wide acceptance of corporal punishment for all. Also, at one point one of the boys brings a weta in, and it’s described as being 12 inches long – this would truly be terrifying, but even the rare giant weta don’t get past 8 inches, and your average weta is about 3 inches in metric equivalents. There is apparently one more in the series, which I will keep a fairly low-key eye out for. I like these books for what they do, but it's not really what I most like to read.
Doreen Swinburne, Jean's new junior. Nursing series. Main character takes on new job, is supposed to sort out problematic junior (actually, she does almost nothing about this at work, although she does discover a long-lost cousin of the junior’s family by recognising his snuff-box) and ends up getting engaged to steady doctor boyfriend. Social history moment – they have a whole wing for quarantining the infectious polio cases. Forgettable.
Constance White, Girls in flight. Trainee air hostess for Irish airline go through brief career overview and romantic entanglements. Author nobly resists the desire to have a dramatic rescue/life-threatening event scene, which I approve of, but the characters (three leads) are a bit too indistinguishable and the romantic tensions with various boyfriends etc not especially involving.
Pamela Rushby, Circles of Stone. Not as good as the Hipchicks; although it's competently done, the basic concept - present day girl gets catapulted back 2000 years via stone circle - is a hard sell, as the present day girl (Lea) doesn't really have any impact on the past; she could be having visions as easily. I like that Lea is Australian, and I like the hippy/artsy/Celtic community she's part of; I like Ana (the past girl she meets) as well, and it's all nicely done, but the actual concept is not new or pushed past its limits.
