It's legendary now, that Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel was rejected by numerous publishers and eventually even its agent handed the book back to its author. It was "too different", different because it credited young readers with being able to grapple with the concept of evil, and because it
In which I chatter about Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief, the Mythlopedia series, the third in Bill Willingham's Fables series, and make hasty notes about my other reading for the un-challenge. The Lightning Thief is intended to be larger than life. Percy Jackson is not a normal boy. He is
Simon & Schuster, 2011 Just as in the Harry Potter stories, the William Joyce tales begin with a younger reader in mind and, then, as the pages turn, both child and story grow. The first volume, The Man in the Moon, scarcely seems to be in the same
Well, then, I'd be lying. Because nothing is like Anne of Green Gables, right? But I'll Be Watching gave me a lot of the same feelings that reading my battered copy of Montgomery's story gives me. That's bound to sound hyperbolic, so let me explain. Pamela Porter's novel opens
Astrid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart (1973) Trans. J. Tate Illus. Ilon Wikland (1984) Everybody knows Pippi Longstocking, but not so many readers know The Brothers Lionheart. I read it on the advice of a reading friend, who counts it amongst her favourite children's books. And then I learned that it's also one of Iris' special
