3 Fine Anne Fine Books
Anne Fine was made Children's Laureate in Britain and no wonder for her books are just gold throughout. I always try to buy them up secondhand whenever I can.
She has that most excellent habit of children's writers; conciseness. Never a word is wasted and you can polish off a slim volume in about three hours. Yet all the characters and plot, wittiness and complexity is wrapped up in those couple of hundred pages. Would that more adult authors followed her example, not mentioning names, Robert Jordan, David Eddings etc.
"Step by Wicked Step" sounds like and even starts off like a ghost story, but it is in fact a study in steparents, the good, the bad and the indifferent. One made me cry and the next one made me laugh. Hopefully G will never have to go through the pain of J and I separating. Too awful to contemplate.
"The Tulip Touch" won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. It reminded me a little of my relationship with Rachel Brown, which fortunately was not so evil, but it made me realise how realistically she can write. Even at the end she plays the ambivalency of Tulip's nature perfectly.
"Madame Doubtfire" became a Robin Williams film, but I doubt, somehow that much of the plot remains in the American version. Can't imagine much in the way of Robin Williams posing for life classes in it, or him smoking cheroots. It's very good and funny and poignant too.
Did I mention that she is just terrific? DWJ would write like this if she wrote about the 'real' world.
She has that most excellent habit of children's writers; conciseness. Never a word is wasted and you can polish off a slim volume in about three hours. Yet all the characters and plot, wittiness and complexity is wrapped up in those couple of hundred pages. Would that more adult authors followed her example, not mentioning names, Robert Jordan, David Eddings etc.
"Step by Wicked Step" sounds like and even starts off like a ghost story, but it is in fact a study in steparents, the good, the bad and the indifferent. One made me cry and the next one made me laugh. Hopefully G will never have to go through the pain of J and I separating. Too awful to contemplate.
"The Tulip Touch" won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. It reminded me a little of my relationship with Rachel Brown, which fortunately was not so evil, but it made me realise how realistically she can write. Even at the end she plays the ambivalency of Tulip's nature perfectly.
"Madame Doubtfire" became a Robin Williams film, but I doubt, somehow that much of the plot remains in the American version. Can't imagine much in the way of Robin Williams posing for life classes in it, or him smoking cheroots. It's very good and funny and poignant too.
Did I mention that she is just terrific? DWJ would write like this if she wrote about the 'real' world.