August 2011: Anthony Horowitz's "Stormbreaker" and our next book

Yesterday was our third meeting, and - holidays excepted - most of us were able to come along to discuss Stormbreaker (our July book), eat chocolate chip cookies and have quite a few laughs!  We welcomed another new member - with a welcome view from an older generation - and it was nice to see two members' children to remind us how much we enjoy sharing the pleasure of reading.

Well, Stormbreaker certainly caused a lot of comment!  While we agreed the story was fast-paced and exciting, the negative - or just plain disappointed - generally outweighed the positive.  "One-dimensional characters", "highly formulaic", "commercialised", "cold", "written with an eye to the film rights" - I'm afraid Mr Horowitz's ears were positively on fire!  It was particularly interesting to hear from the school librarians amongst us who have been cheerfully recommending the series without having first read any ...   That said, everyone agreed that Stormbreaker would still appeal strongly to young readers - girls and boys - but perhaps more particularly to boys (10-12) who may not need so much emotional characterisation and would be satisfied with a book which consists largely of descriptions of action with little meaningful dialogue.  We all agreed that if Stormbreaker provides a positive route to encouraging young readers, then it is a perfectly acceptable book - even if it is rather like the proverbial Chinese meal which leaves you hungry again shortly after it's been consumed!

SilverFin by Charlie Higson - the first of his "Young Bond" books - was recommended over Stormbreaker as having a similar structure and formula but better written with more literary content.  Robert Muchamore's The Recruit (Red House Book Award Winner 2005) also received positive support, although perhaps for teenage readers rather than for pre-teens.

Our book for August is The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908), which was probably inspired by his Thames-side childhood in Cookham Dean, Berkshire.  The edition provided for us by Bath Library includes the 1931 illustrations by E H Shepard.

July 2011: Eve Garnett's "The Family from One End Street" and our next book

We had our second meeting yesterday morning: it was lively and interesting - and we also welcomed a new member!  There was much enthusiasm about our June book, The Family from One End Street (1937) by Eve Garnett, and much to discuss and to learn about its social origins, philanthropic intent, plot lines, characters and style versus other books of the time. Some childhood memories were sparked, and we learned more about the author and her work. 

If anyone wants to take a look at the mural in the Children's House at Bow which was painted by Eve Garnett, here are the weblinks:

The Children's House, Bow, London

Mural by Eve Garnett in The Children's House at Bow

Our 11-year old "shadow" reader sent in her own One End Street book review which she has said can be published here.

“Well, I enjoyed it and I liked the pictures in it.  I liked how they put underneath what the pictures were, so on page 147 it says, “crammed full of old tins and bits of paper”, which is a line in the book and it makes you understand which bit of the story the picture refers to.

"My favourite chapter was The Adventure of the Parked Car.  It was nice because the title just says 'The Adventure of the Parked Car' and so you just think 'oh, it's a parked car' but then people get in it and they drive away and as soon as they drive away it makes you feel like something exciting is going to happen.  I also liked it because it had a wide range of characters like the 'stuck up boy' at the birthday party, 'playful Joe' and 'the kind parents'.

"It was a little bit strange reading such an old fashioned book at the beginning but once you kind of got used to it, it felt like that was the normal way to write books, so it didn't feel strange anymore.

"My favourite character was John because he was always getting into some kind of mischief and he loves cars, and in the parked car one it was funny when he got into it.  And I also liked Kate, I liked how she was so different from most girls and that she was very, very adventurous and a complete contrast to her sister, Lily Rose."

Our book for our August meeting is Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, published in 2000 - the first in his very popular series about the boy spy, Alex Rider.  This was also made into a movie in 2006 - but it's definitely one case where the book is better than the film!