Tag Archives: fiction

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen is a hilarious picture book that former-housemate C sent me. It’s about a fish with criminal tendencies who is optimistic about his chances of escaping justice. The pictures are simple but very … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary Children's, Picture Books, Under 5 years, Under 7 years | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Paul Meets Bernadette by Rosy Lamb

Paul Meets Bernadette by Rosy Lamb is a picture book that is beautifully illustrated with oil paintings. It is the story of Paul, a goldfish, whose life is limited to swimming up and down, left and right, round and round, … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary Children's, Picture Books, Under 5 years | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Henrietta’s War and Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys

Henrietta’s War by Joyce Dennys and its sequel, Henrietta Sees it Through, are a series of letters to a childhood friend during WWII. They document the small and amusing indignities and challenges of life in a “safe part of England” … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Light Fiction, British, Comedy, Episodic Novel, Epistolary Novel, General adult audience, Light Fiction, Novel, Social Novel, War Story | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild is a book that I loved growing up and still enjoy. It is the story of Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil, orphans adopted and sent to England by a travelling collector of fossils and raised … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is the story of ten-year-old August who likes Star Wars and Halloween and who just wants to be ordinary as he starts attending a regular school for the first time. But August isn’t ordinary and an … Continue reading

Posted in 10 years and up, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage, Contemporary Children's, Family Drama, Novel, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a book that my parents read to each other while I was in utero and which has been a regular feature of my life ever since. I have enjoyed it in primary … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics, Fantasy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Miserable, Not Romantic: The Happy Ever After of Marrying a Scoundrel Explored in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë is a book about what happens if you actually marry Mr Rochester or Mr Willoughby. Helen marries a careless but charismatic man and finds that her influence quickly wanes after their marriage. … Continue reading

Posted in British, Classic, Diarial, General adult audience, Novel, Pastoral novel, Realism, Romance, Social Novel, Victorian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan

Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan is a book about… well it took me a while to decide. The first time I read it I thought it was about the experience of a child living in a world of seemingly … Continue reading

Posted in Australian, Contemporary Children's, Picture Books, Under 7 years | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is one of my favourite books. It’s a book about the Christian life written in the form of letters from a senior to a junior devil, who is tasked with sabotaging the spiritual life … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Classics, British, Christian, Christian Living, Christian Non-fiction, Classic, Comedy, Epistolary Novel, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

Five Children and It, written by E. Nesbit and first published in 1902, is about a strange-looking Psammead (also known as a sand fairy) who grumpily grants one wish a day. But somehow the wishes always seem to go wrong … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, British, Children's Classic, Children's Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Novel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment