This is a clever tale where fact and fiction (including fantasy) are woven to transport the reader into the shoes of a young girl growing up during 17th century. The suspicion and fear of those with power and without, the sounds, smells and images of the time, both beautiful and gruesome are strongly evoked. The fantasy provided entertainment for the romantic girl-child in me. I belief this book would provide a wonderful opportuntity to learn about this era in a most enthralling, engaging way.
Particularly thought provoking, as a teacher, is the blurb about the author: "She (Sally Gardner) is dyslexic, did not learn to read or write until she was fourteen, was thrown out of several schools, labelled unteachable and sent to a school for maladjusted children." I wonder what the eventual motivation was...
Thursday, January 03, 2008
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Like you Kirsty, this book had me spellbound - I couldn't put it down!
The book itself is beautifully presented and the end papers are exquistely drawn, adding another dimension to this intriguing story. A nice touch having a bookmark attached to the cover.
Did you know in literature fact and fiction is called faction?
Check out the definition on Wikipedia either by a Google search using keywords
define:faction
or using the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faction_%28literature%29
An interview with Sally Gardner (and other authors) can be found on the following site.
http://www.bookbrowse.com
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