Tag Julia Marshall

The Consequence Girl / The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson

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The Consequence Girl
Alastair Chisholm
Nosy Crow

The only writing of Alastair Chisholm I’m familiar with is the super Dragon Storm series for younger readers on account of which, I came to this novel for older readers with high expectations; I definitely wasn’t disappointed. It’s a brilliant fantasy adventure that starts with a prologue introducing Lilith, a mercenary on a mission to rescue a stolen child. With nothing to lose since her soulmate was killed in battle, she’ll stop at nothing to get baby Cora back.

Forward thirteen years, Lilith now goes under the name Seleen. She lives in an isolated mountainside cabin having brought up Cora out of the sight of civilisation. What are they hiding from? Life is hard and there’s often the need to forage for food to add to that Seleen gets from Recon, the nearest settlement.
Cora possesses a gift she’s forbidden to use by Seleen: if she concentrates really hard she can alter outcomes.
One day though Seleen goes alone to Recon, instructing Cora not to let herself be seen; but she hears a cry for help seemingly close by. Disobeying orders Cora comes upon an injured boy, Kai. Why he’s there she knows not. However after running away at first, she resolves to help him, little realising that it’s a life-changing decision. Later as he recuperates in the cabin, Kai tells Cora things about the world that come as a huge surprise. He also tricks Cora into revealing her secret power to him.

As the story continues to unfold we watch Cora develop her powers as she discovers herself, why she was brought up in isolation, and considers the importance of friendship with someone her own age. She also learns about the township system, the powerful people from whom she has been kept hidden and much more. With his observations on power and prejudice that are so relevant to Britain in 2022, the author’s portrayal of government, church, the resistance movement and the use of technology are spot on.

Showing the importance of the choices we make and their consequences, this is a gripping read from beginning to end.

The Secrets of Cricket Karlsson
Kristina Sigunsdotter (translated by Julia Marshall), illustrated by Ester Eriksson
Gecko Press

At the start of this delightfully quirky novel Cricket Karlsson rates her life as pretty good – chickenpox notwithstanding. However after her one hundred and three chicken pox spots, on her return to school a fortnight later, Cricket downgrades her life to a catastrophe for she discovers that her best friend Noa is totally ignoring her, and is now hanging out with the cliquey ‘horse girls’. To make matters even worse, not long after, her much loved Aunt Frannie (an artist as Cricket aspires to be too) has lost her zest for life and is institutionalised in Adult Psychiatric Ward 84.

This means Cricket now has much to cope with and her way of so doing includes hiding in the school bathroom, 

taking every opportunity to pay secret visits to her aunt, spending sleepless nights – the wolf hour, as her Aunt calls this – outside, standing on a bridge tossing jelly-filled water balloons or even cucumbers over the rail. In addition she has to adjust to having only one person at school who wants to have anything to do with her and that’s the extremely boring sweaty boy, Mitten who has decided he’s in love with her.

The narrator tells it exactly like it is from her life currently in turmoil viewpoint, and includes some revealing lists, for instance ‘Secrets I have told only Noa’, one being “ I sometimes shove a sock in my pants and pretend I’m a boy’; and among ‘Presents I’ve had from Mitten’ – ‘Oven mitts he made in sewing’.

Adding to the impact of the writing are Ester Eriksson’s slightly wacky black and white illustrations giving the entire book a journal-like feeling. I love a quirky book and along with the pre-teen uneasiness, this shortish one, expertly translated by Julia Marshall, has quirkiness in abundance.

Ebb and Flo and Their New Friend / The Tale of the Tiny Man

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Ebb and Flo and Their New Friend
Jane Simmons
Graffeg

Jane Simmons’ books with their gorgeous, soft focus, painterly illustrations, were very popular with foundation stage classes in my early teaching days and it’s good to see Graffeg reintroducing Ebb and Flo to a new generation of young children.

For those unfamiliar with the characters and their adventures, Ebb is a dog and Flo a young girl. They live near the sea and are constant companions. As this story opens the two of them are sitting in their boat with Ebb in her favourite spot in the bow when suddenly her place is usurped by a large bird. Flo urges Ebb to accept the visitor as a friend but Ebb is anything but accepting of the newcomer with its frequent ‘beep, beep, beep’ sounds. 

As the days pass even Granny takes to Bird, giving it some of Ebb’s favourite snacks. 

Ebb wishes Bird gone and the following morning, to Flo’s disappointment, the wish has come true.

However, it quickly becomes an instance of you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, for Ebb finds herself missing Bird and that beeping, especially when as the summer days pass, they see reminders on their journeys along the river. 

Then one day, Ebb hears a familiar sound: could it be …

This gentle exploration of change, jealousy and the challenges of accepting a new friend into an established group, will resonate with many young listeners who will likely look forward to hearing more about Ebb and Flo in the other titles Graffeg will also publish.

The Tale of the Tiny Man
Barbro Lindgren (translated by Julia Marshall), illustrated by Eva Eriksson
Gecko Press

This is a re-illustrated classic tale from Sweden originally published over thirty years ago. It tells of a tiny and sad man who lives a very lonely life ignored and sometimes mistreated by other people perhaps because ‘he was too small and possibly a bit slow.’
One day as spring approaches he attaches a note to a tree ‘Friend Wanted’ and giving his name and address. For ten days he waits, sitting on his doorstep by day, and crying at night on account of the blackbirds’ song. Then on the tenth night he’s dozed off only to be awakened by a large and playful stray dog.
Little by little over the next few days, the tiny man’s kind actions gain the animal’s friendship and trust. It moves in to share the man’s house, his food and even his bedroom. 

When they’re out and about, the dog protects the tiny man from bullies.

By summer life together is happy for both tiny man and big dog. Come the following spring however, a cheerful little girl comes along and she too makes friends with the dog causing the tiny man to feel left out and hurt. 

Convinced he can’t compete with the little girl, full of sorrow the tiny man wanders off into the woods. For seven days he roams alone; meanwhile dog and child sit on the steps wondering where the man has gone. On the eighth day the tiny man returns to find on his doorstep, a dejected dog and an equally dejected little girl. Can it be that this friendship can accommodate three? Is there room in dog’s heart for two human friends and in the tiny man’s heart for the dog and the girl?

With its themes of loneliness and friendship, this beautifully told and illustrated story looks at various emotions including empathy, loneliness and prejudice. Whether read alone or aloud, there’s much to think about and one hopes, talk about with family members and/or classmates.

All the Dear Little Animals

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All the Dear Little Animals
Ulf Nilsson (trans. Julia Marshall) and Eva Eriksson
Gecko Press

Told without a vestige of sentimentality is All the Dear Little Animals, a story from Swedish author Ulf Nilsson and illustrator Eva Eriksson. The first person narrative voice is that of one of the participant founders of an unlikely and short-lived enterprise.

It all begins when Esther, another of the founders, discovers a dead bumblebee. Having nothing better to do, she decides to dig a grave for it. Her companion – the narrator – offers to compose an appropriate death poem and they bury the bee in a secret clearing in the woods.

The team of two becomes three when Puttie, Esther’s little brother gets involved. He finds the whole procedure of the next burial – that of a mouse – extremely sad, but soon overcomes his greatest concerns and thus Funerals Ltd. is up and running. Esther digs, the narrator pens poems and Puttie cries.

A suitcase containing a shovel, various sized boxes and other funeral accoutrements (including ‘’ice-cream sticks for small crosses/ Big sticks for big crosses) is packed and the three spend the day providing a service for the pets and domestic animals of family and friends.

By the time darkness falls, all manner of creatures including finally a blackbird

have been duly interred before he children decide to call it a day.

‘Another blackbird sang a beautiful song. I got a frog in my throat when I read. Esther cried. We all felt very reverent. Sadness lay like a black quilt over the clearing. And Puttie went to sleep.’

That’s not quite all though, for after the closing verse of the narrator’s poem comes an absolutely wonderful throw away finale: ‘The next day we found something else to do. Something completely different.’

Both playful and sad, with a touch of whimsy, the combination of text and illustration is just right for those starting out as solo readers, as well as for sharing. More importantly though, the book offers a way to talk about death with young children from any faith tradition or none, that should help them transcend feelings of sadness.

Although written from a child with a Christian world view’s perspective of death, if shared in an education setting, the book could open up a whole topic on religious rituals.