An intriguing book perfect for 8-12 year olds. Joseph lives in a world where there has been a terrible incident and imaginary friends are considered a potential lethal threat rather than a harmless childhood phase. He lives with his dad, his mum disappeared two years earlier after sending a postcard from Spain saying she would be back in the summer.
Joseph's neighbours are the sprawling Cliff family, best friend Rocky, older sister Pooh, the odd and vaguely wicked twins Egg and Willis and Flea. Flea has an imaginary friend Klaris but she has begun speaking to Joseph and Flea's parents call the authorities convinced that Klaris is potentially dangerous. Flea's dad has drawn up a list of the things he believes Klaris has done, including getting the family labradors drunk, killing the pet rabbit, writing on door and turning lights on. The way that imaginary friends are dispatched is by isolating and destroying the imagination centres of the brain, and Joseph is quick to realise that this will mean he will lose all his memories of his mother. It is now a race against time to prove that Klaris is not guilty of Flea's father's list of misdemeanors.
This was a good sweet story and I loved the ending.
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale
A boy is brought to the house of his grandfather, a bleak tenament flat in a Belarussian town. His mother is dying of cancer and has brought her son to live with her father. Slowly, reluctantly, Grandfather, or Papa, begins to tell the boy and mother the stories he told to her as a child. Of Baba Yaga, the deep forests, and of the mighty Winter King and the King in the West who fought a terrible war over Belarus when it was Poland.
The mother's dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered with those of her mother in the great ancient forest beyond the town. Grandfather, or Papa, is deeply reluctant but on a day when the roads are deep in ice he relents and takes the boy and his mother's remains out to a near ruined house. It becomes clear that Papa is not afraid of the forest, he is afraid of not wanting to leave it. Daily Papa remains in the house only venturing to collect the boy from school, then one day he does not come and the boy goes in search of him.
It is the beginning of a stunning magical cartwheeling story where boy and grandfather leave the urban for the wild and enter a world of stories, of partisan fighters who retreated to safety among the trees, of women and children massacred and the trees that drank too deeply of their blood and have become wicked, of survival, and love.
Dinsdale weaves the two parts of his story - narrative and folklore, together in such a skillful way that both drive each other. Crises come, injury, new people in the forest, decisions to be made over loyalty, faithfulness and friendship, but always the ancient forest full of wildlife is a world beyond narrative where the past and present are bound together.
The mother's dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered with those of her mother in the great ancient forest beyond the town. Grandfather, or Papa, is deeply reluctant but on a day when the roads are deep in ice he relents and takes the boy and his mother's remains out to a near ruined house. It becomes clear that Papa is not afraid of the forest, he is afraid of not wanting to leave it. Daily Papa remains in the house only venturing to collect the boy from school, then one day he does not come and the boy goes in search of him.
It is the beginning of a stunning magical cartwheeling story where boy and grandfather leave the urban for the wild and enter a world of stories, of partisan fighters who retreated to safety among the trees, of women and children massacred and the trees that drank too deeply of their blood and have become wicked, of survival, and love.
Dinsdale weaves the two parts of his story - narrative and folklore, together in such a skillful way that both drive each other. Crises come, injury, new people in the forest, decisions to be made over loyalty, faithfulness and friendship, but always the ancient forest full of wildlife is a world beyond narrative where the past and present are bound together.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Iron Council by China Mieville
Mieville's conclusion to the Perdido Street Station trilogy is dense, magical, bewildering and brilliant. Out in the wastes beyond New Crobuzon a rag tag band searches for the legendary Iron Council, a train taken by rebels into the wilderness when the City refused to pay their wages. In New Crobuzon unrest is rife and the people are in covert revolt against their authoritarian rulers, themselves at war against the mysterious Tesh, and the two strands come into painful contact
Mieville introduces us to an incredible cast: Remade, people punished by the authorities by being surgically altered to be part machine; their rebel counterparts the fReemade; magicians; golems; all manner of creatures part bird, bat and insect; stomach churning spells, the visceral urban grit of New Crobuzon and the bewildering landscape outside where smoke turns to stone petrifying its victims and nothing is fixed. And all this in an opaque bewitching language that often had me reaching for the dictionary. Worth the work though.
Mieville introduces us to an incredible cast: Remade, people punished by the authorities by being surgically altered to be part machine; their rebel counterparts the fReemade; magicians; golems; all manner of creatures part bird, bat and insect; stomach churning spells, the visceral urban grit of New Crobuzon and the bewildering landscape outside where smoke turns to stone petrifying its victims and nothing is fixed. And all this in an opaque bewitching language that often had me reaching for the dictionary. Worth the work though.
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Archi-doodle: An Architect's Activity Book by Steve Bowkett
Despite the intimidating title this isn't a book just for architects, it's for anyone who is interested in buildings. Our copy has been slowly and deliciously devoured by both me and my 10-year old daughter, and I've recommended it to anyone who will listen.
Archi-doodle is a landscape A4 sized 160 page book and on every page is a task with inspiration, for instance, sketches of the world's tallest buildings with space for your own, famous buildings cut in half vertically for you to complete, sneakily learning about the buildings (Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower) as you go, bridges to complete over a canyon, road and estuary and on and on. This is simply an enchanting book, introducing thorough creative fun all the major figures and movements in world architecture, from Gaudi to Bauhaus, windows, roofs and islands to underwater cities.
Archi-doodle is a landscape A4 sized 160 page book and on every page is a task with inspiration, for instance, sketches of the world's tallest buildings with space for your own, famous buildings cut in half vertically for you to complete, sneakily learning about the buildings (Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower) as you go, bridges to complete over a canyon, road and estuary and on and on. This is simply an enchanting book, introducing thorough creative fun all the major figures and movements in world architecture, from Gaudi to Bauhaus, windows, roofs and islands to underwater cities.
A Short Book About Drawing by Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr is of course one of the BBCs best known news correspondents, reporting and commanding interviews with insight, making difficult and complex situations digestible to the viewer. And he is famously fighting his way back from a life changing stroke. But all his life he has sketched and in this book he reflects on what drives him and millions like him, not necessarily (but sometimes) world famous artists, often ordinary people, to draw. He speaks of what drawing asks of in the viewer and what it does for the creator. It is generously illustrated with his own sketches and paintings, some paper and canvas, many created on his iPad. Inspiring and insightful.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Graffiti School: A Student Guide by Chris Ganter
Step by step this good sized guide takes you through how to create street art.
The book begins with a history of graffiti from ancient Rome to the Hip Hop movement of the 70s to the present day with an extensive piece on legality. A second chapter covers terminology (tags, throwups, silverpieces, wildstyle) before moving on to designing your own graffiti.
The book is well structured, taking the user from simple to complex, from how to create linear tags right through to a full scale burner. There are plenty of exercises at each stage to help any one understanding the different styles within graffiti and to develop their own.
Guidance is given on the use of tools with an extensive section on the safe use of spray cans and how to control them to create various effects, there are pages of design samples and idea for backgrounds and fill-ins.
At the end is a manual for teachers giving guidance and lesson plans
All in all a very impressive book both for use by any one on their own wanting to learn about graffti and how to create it, and for teachers and students.
The book begins with a history of graffiti from ancient Rome to the Hip Hop movement of the 70s to the present day with an extensive piece on legality. A second chapter covers terminology (tags, throwups, silverpieces, wildstyle) before moving on to designing your own graffiti.
The book is well structured, taking the user from simple to complex, from how to create linear tags right through to a full scale burner. There are plenty of exercises at each stage to help any one understanding the different styles within graffiti and to develop their own.
Guidance is given on the use of tools with an extensive section on the safe use of spray cans and how to control them to create various effects, there are pages of design samples and idea for backgrounds and fill-ins.
At the end is a manual for teachers giving guidance and lesson plans
All in all a very impressive book both for use by any one on their own wanting to learn about graffti and how to create it, and for teachers and students.
Happy Graffiti: Street Art with Heart by Jenny Foulds
A wonderful little book for anyone who enjoys street art or gentle anarchy. Happy Graffiti is pictures of graffiti from around the world that reclaim unwanted spaces with pictures and phrases that make you smile and are a sweet world away from the corporate machinations of advertising that use mawkish sentiment to manipulate in the name of profit. These are anonymous reminders to smile, be kind to each other, to love life in the greyest places, and this book is a celebration of the joy of life colouring outside the lines.
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