The children of the house had the nursery and the schoolroom and the great park encircled by three miles of fence and, most important, each other, but never enough food nor proper clothes nor money to spend—raiding the kitchen garden was an escapade and finding a half crown warranted a celebration. The servants were their natural allies against Sir Robert's rigidity and Lady Hatton's acquiescence, and the chief friends that Laura and Tom and Hugh and Margaret had. . . . Once, hard-pressed, Tom spoke out: "We are kept short of all kinds of things just so that Papa can keep all the horses he wants and you can live at Stanford Park like Grandfather." But life on the estate changed only imperceptibly as the children grew older, until the advent of the First World War; then Father, who could have rejoined his regiment, instead closed Stanford to take a munitions post profferred by a rich neighbor: "There are plenty of young men like his son and ours who can do the actual fighting." Framing the story is a visit to the Hall, which has stood empty for the fifty years since Tom and Hugh and Laura were killed in the war, Hugh as a sixteen-year-old midshipman. . . . What starts as a conspiracy against authoritarian parents by youngsters who are refreshingly free of guilt feelings becomes a fight for survival, with this household mirroring aristocratic. Britain on the brink of dissolution. But the poignancy needs no historic perspective—they were gallant and merry and they looked forward so much to good times when the house would be theirs.
Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1968
ISBN: 0140304630
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1968
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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