Month: July 2023

#KeepKidsReading book review #3 – “Quiet Storm” by Kimberly Whittam

For my final #KeepKidsReading book review I would love to share with you a really wonderful book by a debut author, published by Usborne, who also happens to be local to me – Manchester based. Kimberly Whittam is a school teacher who has written a book for and about quieter shy children:

“Children who don’t raise their hand in class even though they know the answer, who don’t join in class discussion even though they’ve got something to say and children who are so, so talented and want to try out for the school play or join the school sports team and who are just too afraid to join in.”

Kimberly Whittam https://youtu.be/I8gtYq9zXu8

Many of us will recognise this child – that was me and it has at times been my own children, and certainly many children I know. Everyone is encouraged now to be loud and proud, to speak their truth and not be afraid of offending anyone, nor crave to be liked. But too often the people who say this have no idea how agonisingly difficult that can be. They were not “that” child. 

Storm Williams is twelve years old and in year seven at Daisy Mill Academy. She likes to keep a low profile and has clearly found settling in very challenging. Her best friend from primary school, Zarrish, was placed in a different form, leaving Storm feeling bereft, and she lives for the lessons where forms are mixed, such as PE, and they can be together. To make matters worse, Storm’s elder brother Isaiah is in year eleven and is an outgoing high-achiever, Head Boy and heavily involved in extra-curricular activity. All the teachers refer to Storm at “Isaiah’s little sister”; she has a lot to live up to. At the start of the book, Storm’s family faces a domestic drama – kitchen renovations lead to a burst pipe which makes their house uninhabitable – and the family has to move in with Storm’s grandma. 

It is during one of the PE lessons that Storm finds she has a previously undiscovered talent that she enjoys. The group begins athletics lessons and Storm finds that she is a very fast sprinter. The PE teacher encourages her to attend athletics practice and tells her he wants her to participate in an inter-school competition. The thought of going alone makes Storm feel queasy, but she decides that she will do it if her friend Zarrish comes along too. At first Zarrish says she will, but lets her friend down. Zarrish has become increasingly involved with a new girl at school, Melissa, who she was initially asked to ‘buddy’. But Melissa is sullen, manipulative and difficult and it soon becomes clear that she is pulling Zarrish away from Storm, persuading her into rule-breaking at school and deceitful and unkind behaviour. 

Storm finds herself in turmoil; lacking the confidence to participate in athletics without her friend’s support, but also finding for the first time that she excels at something and enjoys it, makes her reassess all of her assumptions about school life up to that point. 

Storm does find her voice and her niche and the difficult challenges she faces turn out to be a true turning point for her. She faces them with courage and with the support of her family and finds the strength of character to turn her back on what she knows to be wrong (treating people badly) and embracing doing what she loves, finding out a lot about herself along the way.

Storm is a lovely character and the situations she faces in this super book, the people around her at school, the teachers and the family situations (being mortified by her parents’ very public sense of fun!) will be familiar to lots of young people. 

Highly recommended for 9-12 year olds, or even a little older. 

#KeepKidsReading book review #2 – “The Dolls’ House” by Rumer Godden

I have a vague recollection of reading some books by Rumer Godden when I was a child, though unfortunately I cannot remember any specific titles. I was reminded of her a couple of years ago when reading fellow blogger Brona’s Books, who had a Rumer Godden reading week around the time of the author’s birthday. By coincidence I had happened to pick up an early edition of The Doll’s House in my local secondhand bookshop around the same time. Unfortunately, I did not get around to reading the book then and it has been sitting on my TBR shelf for too long. I decided to make it my ‘Off the TBR shelf’ book for June and now seems like a good time to review it as I am focusing on my #KeepKidsReading week. 

Rumer Godden was prolific and published over sixty books in a writing career that spanned seven decades. She wrote for both adults and children and also wrote poetry and non-fiction. A number of her books were adapted for film and television, most recently Black Narcissus which was released as a BBC mini-series in 2020. She was born in Britain but grew up in India where her father worked for a shipping company. 

The Doll’s House was Godden’s first book for children (published in 1947) and was turned into a film for children’s television in 1984. Godden wrote a series of books about dolls drawing parallels between their plight as passive and without agency, and the life of children, for whom adults make decisions, without necessarily consulting them. 

The Dolls’ House is a short book, easily consumed by an adult in one sitting, but I tried to read as a child would, or as a child might have it read to them, one short chapter at a time. The story concerns the fate of four dolls who live together as a family – Mr Plantaganet, Birdie, his ‘wife’, Tottie, a girl-child doll, and Apple, a younger boy-child doll. They are the toys of sisters Emily and Charlotte, and live in shoe boxes, but wish for a house of their own. Their wishes come true and the two sisters acquire an old Victorian dolls’ house which once belonged to their grandmother. With the help of a family friend they clean, repair and update the interior and the furnishings. Unfortunately, the dolls’ house comes with an unwelcome addition, a china doll called Marchpane, who is also very old. Marchpane would have been an expensive and precious doll in her day, unlike the Plantaganets, and is both haughty and cruel. When she is brought to live with them all she seems to cast a spell over the elder of the two sisters, Emily, and gradually, the Plantaganets are sidelined and ousted from the better rooms in their new home. 

On the surface, this is a simple story, but it explores notions of class, fairness, kindness and justice in ways that will be easily understood by children. It was a real throw-back reading this charming little book. The language is a bit old-fashioned, but I think it could still appeal to younger children, between about five and seven years old, perhaps shared with a grandparent, who will be able to bring their own memories into a telling of the story. 

“It is an anxious, sometimes a dangerous thing, to be a doll. Dolls cannot choose; they can only be chosen; they cannot ‘do’; they can only be done by; children who do not understand this, often do wrong things and then the dolls are hurt and abused and lost; and when this happens dolls cannot speak, nor do anything except be hurt and abused and lost. If you have any dolls, you should remember that.”

Chapter 1, ‘The Dolls’ House’ by Rumer Godden

#KeepKidsReading book review – “Stolen History” by Sathnam Sanghera

I am starting my #KeepKidsReading week book reviews with a newly-published non-fiction title that caught my eye. Sathnam Sangera published his best-selling book fort adults Empireland: How imperialism has shaped modern Britain in 2021. He is a journalist and has long campaigned for a more grown-up debate about the UK’s history of empire-building, what this means for us today and how it can help us manage some of the issues that arise from our multi-cultural society. Sathnam was part of a panel at the Hay Festival in a debate I saw there about Britain’s stately homes, the riches within them and how we as a society might engage with or view them in the modern era. It was fascinating.

The topic is certainly gaining traction (not before time, many would argue) and it is encouraging to see a book aimed at children on the subject. Sathnam Sanghera acknowledges the wonderful Horrible Histories series (books and television) for changing the way certain topics are taught to young people, making them accessible as well as entertaining. Sanghera sets out to do the same here, though it is a little heavier on the education than the entertainment side.

The author begins by explaining what the British Empire was and how Britain came to be perhaps the most powerful nation on earth. I learned quite a lot! I did not know, for example, that the British Empire was actually seven times larger than the Roman Empire and endured for a similar period of time.

He goes on to talk about some of the things we think of as ‘British’ that we actually imported from other parts of the Empire, not least tea! There are a number of pen-portraits of Empire figures, from the controversial explorers and colonisers, such as Robert Clive, to the many black and brown skinned individuals whose place in history has been minimised, such as Mary Seacole (who played just as big a role in the Crimean War as her white counterpart Florence Nightingale).

Sanghera does not shy away from controversial topics in this book and I think he handles them very well. For example, a theme running throughout is how objects (and indeed natural resources and human labour) were forcibly removed from their countries of origin. He alludes to the debate currently ongoing about the return of precious artefacts to their original owners. He also busts plenty of myths! For example, in the debate about whether British museums should return looted artefacts Sanghera points out that less than 1% of the British Museum’s current collection is on display so the place would hardly be hollowed out if even a lot of items were returned.

The author addresses head-on the fact that to many people the concept of ‘the British Empire’ remains sacred. He explains carefully why some people are made angry by discussions about it, without taking up a polar position himself. I think he manages quite successfully to explain why it remains important to people, whilst also equipping his readers with factual information and even a few strategies for handling discussions. He even explains terms such as ‘exceptionalism’ and ‘jingoism’ in simple but effective terms, which is quite something.

As you can probably guess, I rather liked this book and would recommend it to any parent keen for their child to have a grasp of this topic (which would probably be better than very many adults’ grasp!). It is definitely not just for families with multi-cultural heritage. I had some slight reservations about the title, because it suggests a ‘position’ that is actually much more nuanced in the book. But it turns heads I suppose.

Highly recommended (and for adults too!). It is published in paperback by the always wonderful Puffin Books, is very well illustrated and is set out in highly digestible chunks.

#KeepKidsReading – the summer holidays are here!

It’s too long since I did one of my periodic #KeepKidsReading weeks, where I write about what is currently happening in the world of children’s literature and post reviews of kids’ books that have caught my eye.

The premise of these themed weeks is to try and encourage people to spread the word about children’s books and perhaps even consider reading some themselves! It’s always such a treat to open a book that has been written with children in mind – it’s as good a min-retreat! We bookbloggers love reading – of course we do! – but when you get caught up in your stats, your reading speed (that feature on the e-reader is surely a thief of joy!) and how your ‘number of books read’ on Goodreads compares to last year, you can easily forget that reading is, at its most basic, just pure pleasure.

Generation Alpha (ie people born between 2010-24), aka ‘kids today’, have more competing pressures on their time than ever and, I would argue, more things to worry about. Reading educates, creates bonds, promotes wellbeing and empowers – as adults, parents and grandparents it is imperative that we do not allow this simple but oh so valuable pastime to slip away from them.

So, this is my teeny tiny little personal campaign!

If you know any children and they have not yet signed up for this year’s UK summer reading challenge, then get them along to the local library or point them in the direction of the website (Gen Alpha is, of course, digitally native!). This annual initiative is run by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with public libraries (because even though they are all digital natives, they don’t all have the hardware at home). Each year, the challenge has a theme and this year it’s Ready, Set, Read, with a sporting theme.

Later in the week I will be posting a few reviews of book suggestions for children, so look out for those.

In the meantime, happy reading and spread the word!

#KeepKidsReading

Audiobook review – “Red Notice” by Bill Browder

This was my book club’s June read. It wasn’t a title I suggested but I was happy to go along with it even though the blurb didn’t appeal that strongly. A true-life thriller about high finance and espionage did not seem like the kind of book I would normally read, but then isn’t that the joy of a book club, to make new discoveries? The book opens with the narrator (the author) giving a detailed account of his being detained at a Moscow airport without explanation, being held for endless hours without food or water. Attempts to contact friends, family, contacts in the British Embassy bear no fruit and finally his phone battery gives out. The intention of the Russian authorities seems to be to terrify their detainees, keeping them guessing about what might happen to them.

Finally, the author is allowed to leave and is put on a plane back to London, where he lives. This happened in the early 2000s, but there is a long history leading up to this event. Bill Browder then takes us on the long journey to explain how he came to be in this situation, beginning with his childhood in Chicago as the lowest-achieving child in a highly academic family. Young Bill clearly had something of the entrepreneur about him and despite his early difficulties in education (exclusion, boarding school, severe bullying) he eventually wins a place at Stamford business school. 

After completing his college education and a stint at a couple of consultancy firms he decides on an adventure, following somewhat in the footsteps of his eastern European grandparents. From an early age he shows clearly his entrepreneurial streak and a nose for an opportunity. He moves to Russia in the 1990s, as that country is emerging into the post-Soviet Union era. Browder begins to see the huge financial benefits that can be secured by being an early investor in the privatisation of national industries and he persuades a number of wealthy individuals to come on board with him. His Hermitage investment fund is extremely successful and he makes a lot of money, for himself and his investors. 

[Spoilers below]

Browder bases himself between Moscow and London, where he also starts a family, but it is clear that the pressures and demands of his lifestyle take their toll on his marriage. Eventually, he and his wife divorce – there is a lot of very personal material in this book too. Browder will eventually meet and marry a Russian woman with whom he has two daughters.

To support his finance business, Browder has to set up a strong team of lawyers and advisors, as well as colleagues with connections and insights into Russian society. In the time that Browder is operating in Russia, the country changes dramatically and a small number of people begin to make a lot of money – the rise of the oligarchs. Corruption was always part of the system, but now becomes endemic. As a foreigner (even worse, an American) profiting handsomely from Russia’s embrace of capitalism, Browder becomes a marked man. His life becomes endangered (hence the detainment at the airport) and he has good reason to believe that Putin himself is behind efforts to eliminate him. The ‘red notice’ of the title refers to the Interpol arrest warrant that the Russians tried to have exercised on him (which was eventually  withdrawn, much to the ire of the Russian authorities for whom this is a huge embarrassment). Browder realises that the Russians might attempt to get at him through his associates. He persuades most of them to flee the country, sometimes under cover, but one of his lawyers, Sergei Magnitsky, refuses. Browder tells us that he simply “loved his country too much”. Magnitsky is arrested, charged with trumped-up accusations of fraud, and imprisoned in a labour camp. His treatment there, including beatings, eventually leads to his death. 

This event shapes Browder’s life from then on and occupies the final third or so of the book. The author’s attempts to fight his friend’s case, and then to seek justice for him become the cause of his life. He devotes his time to raising awareness of human rights abuses in Russia and eventually succeeds in persuading the American Congress to pass ‘Magnitsky’s law’, with the help of key politicians such as the late John McCain, which permits sanctions against those guilty of human rights abuses, such as freezing of overseas assets and refusal of visas. Bill Browder continues to devote his life to persuading other countries to adopt similar legislation. 

This is a fascinating story and after my initial scepticism I have to say that I was completely hooked. In the context of Russia’s current behaviour it has extra resonance and gives an insight into the psyche of those in power in that country. I had heard of Magnitsky’s law, but had no idea of the background. Browder and his team were one of the first to use the then new platform YouTube to great effect as a publicity tool to raise awareness of their cause, when Sergei Magnitsky was still alive. The videos can still be seen on there and are powerful. Also, powerful, is the final chapter of the book, narrated on the audio version by the author himself. It is chilling when he tells us that if he is killed, we the readers will know who did it. 

A stunning and unique story, highly recommended.

‘Off the TBR shelf’ book review – “The Bloody Chamber” by Angela Carter

This was my May ‘off the shelf’ book – a book that has been hanging around in my life, neglected and unread. I set myself the challenge this year to finally give at least some of these books the attention they deserve – it has certainly made my reading year so far a lot cheaper than usual. 

I have read a couple of Angela Carter books before and count The Magic Toyshop as one of my favourite reads ever, but I have always wanted to read more. She is a towering and enigmatic figure in modern English literature, a true icon, made the more so, no doubt, by her untimely death from lung cancer in 1992 at the age of 51. She wrote nine novels as well as a number of short story collections, poetry, drama, children’s books and non-fiction. Two of her novels (The Magic Toyshop and The Company of Wolves) have been adapted for film and she was closely involved with both. She was an intellectual, a feminist, outspoken and uncompromising, as you will see if you go on to YouTube and watch any of the interviews with her that are there. 

I am not sure when I purchased The Bloody Chamber but my edition dates from 1995 – 28 years unread! I cannot even begin to count how many times it must have moved house with me! It wasn’t what I expected. For starters it is a collection of short stories, which I am embarrassed to say I had not realised. There are ten stories in all and most are re-tellings of popular myths or fairy tales. For example, the titular story ‘The Bloody Chamber’, and the longest in the collection is a re-telling of ‘Bluebeard’, ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ is a re-telling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘The Company of Wolves’ is a re-telling of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The final story in the collection ‘Wolf Alice’ (and yes, apparently, the band did name themselves after this story) references both ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ stories. 

Carter hated them being described as her ‘versions’ of the tales and preferred to see them as drawing out “the latent content from the traditional stories”. She was apparently particularly angered by her American publisher’s reference to the collection as “adult” stories. Yes, there is explicit sexual content here, including sado-masochism in the opening story. But I think Carter would argue that these dynamics were already in those stories, which are part of a largely oral tradition and have been told and re-told countless times with people choosing to place emphasis on different elements. 

I am reminded of one of the books I read during the Covid pandemic lockdown, Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who also draws on traditional tales to draw out the essence of the feminine in the stories that are handed down through the generations in communities, its raw, even divine, power. These stories transcend social, cultural even gender boundaries. In her tales, Carter’s trademark magical realism is powerfully at work. For me, the opening story was not the best. I found it dragged a little. By the time I got to the third story, ‘The Lion’s Bride’ (I read the first few in order, but then jumped around), I felt the writing was unrestrained, Carter’s wild imagination was in full flow and the words just poured off the page. The shortest story in the book ‘The Snow Child’ at less than two pages is a master-class in flash fiction, though I must admit I found the content of this one quite uncomfortable in a 2023 context. But that is what these stories are meant to do, make you shift in your seat. 

Recommended because everyone should read some Angela Carter. 

My next neglected book is going to be a children’s book, The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden, which I think has only been in my possession for a couple of years – a relative newcomer!