‘The Land of Neverendings’ Kate Saunders

My next Carnegie 2019 shortlist read.  I’ve read a few titles by Kate Saunders, including ‘Five Children on the Western Front’ which was also shortlisted for the award, so I already knew this was likely to appear to be for a younger audience.  ‘The Land of Neverendings’ is one of those titles that needs to be read in layers.  There’s quite a lot going on in the book.  Emily’s disabled sister has died and the whole family is struggling to make sense of it.  To comfort and entertain her sister, Emily used to make up stories about what their toys got up to in a mysterious land where just about anything you can imagine is possible.  However, when the barrier between the imaginary word and this one, ‘hardside’, is broken some familiar toys start  to appear and can communicate with Emily.  She’s convinced she’s the only one to see this, but Emily’s neighbour, bookshop owner Ruth, also starts experiencing some very strange events too.  Emily has always been able to turn to best friend Maze, but their friendship has become much less close which Emily finds really difficult.  However, as is often the way, others who Emily knew but wasn’t especially close to start to become firm friends and as the effect of the broken door starts to spread they all know that somehow they must try to mend it.  Emily is torn however, as she knows her sister’s favourite toy ‘Bluey’ is just beyond it, and she’s desperate to have a chance to say to the toy all the things she wanted to say to her sister who died so suddenly.

Exploring themes of bereavement, grief, friendship and the power of imagination this book is much more than one about toys coming to life.  I enjoyed it much more than I had expected and I know this will have great appeal to many of our students.

‘A Skinful of Shadows’ Frances Hardinge

I can never feel neutral about Frances Hardinge’s books – some I have loved and some enjoyed much less.  Her writing has a totally unique quality to it – somehow it is intense and ‘dense’ and it always takes me much longer to read them than I expect!

‘A Skinful of Shadows‘ has made it onto this year’s Carnegie shortlist, but I’m not sure it’s my favourite of her novels.  Using a mix of historical/supernatural and fantasy that have become familiar themes in her novels, we meet Makepeace.  Living at a time of great upheaval in England when parliament is beginning to flex its strength against the monarchy, Makepeace is living with her Mother.  However, Makepeace has a terrible affliction.  Ghosts/spirits are drawn to her and try to slip their way inside her being.  She has started to learn ways to defend herself against them, but after letting down her guard, one manages to step inside.  It is raw and wild and angry, and in her fright the only answer seems to be with her father’s cruel and powerful family.  However, their plans for her soon become clear, and Makepeace has to decide between total possession or fleeing and trying to find a solution.

As with many of her books, Frances Hardinge’s main character is a girl living in poor circumstances where the course of her life may very well appear to be entirely determined by others.  However, as in all her books, our main character has resolve, determination and resources, even when it seems she must be completely powerless.  The book is full of dichotomies.  Aristocracy and poverty, puritans and royalists, poverty and excess.  Through the book each one has their flaws exposed – the civil war propaganda from both sides is especially interesting in this time of exposing fake news.  Perhaps it has always been so – just with a new name?

As always, I’m sure Frances Hardinge will split our students.  Not sure this is likely to win this year, but I’m certainly glad I read it.

‘The Poet X’ Elizabeth Acevedo

My second Carnegie read this year was something quite different ‘The Poet X‘.   Appropriately the story is told through a series of poems.   Xiomara is living in Harlem, of Dominican parents.  Her mother is very strictly Catholic, but X is just getting to an age where she is starting to notice boys, and they are definitely noticing her.  Aman sits next to X in a school class, and it become clear very quickly there is a real connection for them both.   X has a twin brother ‘Twin’ who is also wrestling with a growing realisation of who he is, both knowing that their mother would find the reality of both their lives almost impossible to accept.  X has always used writing as a way to gather her thoughts, and a new teacher in school encourages her to join a slam poetry group.  X has to do this in secret as her mother would never allow this, which causes her real anguish.  With the encouragement of the poetry group X’s very private poetry becomes a little more public, but there are, of course, consequences.

The style of this book could take some a little while to get used to.  The poetry is hard-edged and fast-paced – exactly as slam poetry should be.  The strong themes of growing up in a very religious household as a young person, and at the same time wanting to explore your world beyond comes through very clearly.  Is it possible to follow both these paths and be true to yourself?  For both Xiomara and Twin the reader feels there will be difficulties ahead undoubtedly – but they are strong and the message is overall a positive one.

‘The House with Chicken Legs’ Sophie Anderson

Carnegie 2019 has started and I’ve been a bit slow getting to grips with it this year I confess.  The group of students, as always, has some that have whizzed through the titles, some who are taking it more steadily, and some that won’t finish – there are always a few who surprise me as well!

‘The House with Chicken Legs’ was my first read this year.  I’d been hearing lots about it, with many colleagues loving it, but on reading the blurb I wasn’t especially taken with it myself.  Based on the Baba Yaga Russian folk tales, Marinka lives with her Grandmother in a house that roams the land, most nights welcoming the dead so they can move onto the next world.  Marinka has always been brought up to know her destiny is to be the next guide when her Grandmother is no longer around, but she is becoming more and more certain that this is not what she wants out of life, preferring instead to explore the lands of the living.  However, when Marinka befriends one of the dead, the consequences are far reaching and plunge her into a time to make decisions about where exactly her future does lie, and whether it might ever be possible to be part of both worlds.

Very straightforwardly told, this story quickly draws the reader in, and I could soon see why so many colleagues enjoyed it.  This will appeal to a relatively wide age range of students – I could definitely see top junior students reading this, and many of my own Carnegie shadowers have also enjoyed it.