Find by Audience Age:
Find by Vintage
Find by Genre:
Tag Archives: fiction
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
E.B. White is better known for Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, but my favourite of his books is The Trumpet of the Swan. It tells the story of Louis, a trumpeter swan who can’t trumpet, which has grave implications for … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy
Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, American, animal behaviour, animals, birds, boats, children's classic, disability, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, honour, humour, impressively pompous character, literacy, mild romance, music, muteness, nature, overcoming adversity, summer camp, swans, trumpet, whimsical, zookeeping
Leave a comment
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the last of the Little House books that Wilder completed and also my favourite. At the end of Little Town on the Prairie Laura received her teaching certificate. Now Laura has … Continue reading
Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century YA, Young Adult
Tagged 10 and up, 19th Century, American, character-driven, children's classic, coming-of-age, courtship, education, farming, fiction, good out loud, historical, Little House Book, North Dakota, pioneering America, prairies, school, semi-autobiographical, YA classic, young adult
Leave a comment
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion features an unusual hero on a mission to find a wife. To increase the efficiency of the process, Don Tillman develops a lengthy questionnaire that will allow him to quickly eliminate women who would … Continue reading
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas is a beautiful picture book about the nature of memory. It tells the story of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge who lives next door to an old people’s home where his … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, Australian, Picture Books, Under 7 years
Tagged Australian, dementia, disability, fiction, good out loud, illustrated, memory, the elderly, under 7s
Leave a comment
Light a Single Candle by Beverley Butler
Light A Single Candle by Beverley Butler is a great book written in the early 60s that I discovered in high school. Cathy Wheeler becomes completely blind in her early teens when surgery to treat glaucoma goes seriously wrong. As … Continue reading
Posted in 11 years and up, 20th Century YA, American, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage, Light Fiction, Novel, YA Realism, Young Adult
Tagged 1960s, 20th Century, American, animals, blindness, coming-of-age, disability, dogs, fiction, guide dogs, high school, instituationalisation, society, young adult
Leave a comment
Goodnight, Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
Goodnight, Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian is a historical novel and modern children’s classic set in World War II Britain. Billeting arrangements bring together Mister Tom, a gruff and grieving old man, and Willie Beech, a starved and abused child … Continue reading
Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, Children's Classics
Tagged 10 and up, 20th Century, adoption, billeting, British, character-driven, children's classic, dogs, domestic abuse, fiction, friendship, good out loud, growing up, historical, home front, London's East End, mental illness, poverty, the country, wartime, well written, widowhood, WWII
Leave a comment
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis is the 6th Chronicle of Narnia. As a child it was my least favourite Narnia book, despite containing a favourite character and a favourite scene. The drawbacks are that the main human characters spend … Continue reading
A Country Gentleman and His Family by Margaret Oliphant
A Country Gentleman and His Family by Margaret Oliphant is surprisingly well written. Mrs Oliphant was a Victorian authoress who wrote novels to support herself and several dependents so was prolific but variable in quality. This book had skillful characterisation … Continue reading
Posted in British, Classic, Family Drama, General adult audience, Novel of Manners, Pastoral novel, Romance, Social Novel, Victorian
Tagged 100/500/100, 19th Century, British, character-driven, classic, domestic realism, drama, exam period friendly, fiction, marriage, relationships, remarriage, siblings, society, talent, widowhood, women
Leave a comment
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis was my favourite Narnia book as a child – an exciting ocean journey discovering new lands in a quest to find seven missing lords of Narnia. It again features King Caspian … Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy
Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, animals, boats, British, C.S. Lewis, children's classic, Christianity, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, grace, Narnia, The Inklings, there be Dragons
Leave a comment