DRACULA, retold by Tanya Landman, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

 

    

I'm somebody who has been aware of Dracula, book and character, most of my life, but never actually read the original by Bram Stoker. I know what a brilliant children's novelist Tanya Landman is, trusting her to give me the essential atmosphere and story without having to wade through the much longer original. So, I was delighted to open the blood-dripping cover of this Barrington Stoke abridged version, and find out what I'd been missing.

Aimed at children in KS3, so early years of secondary school, I can imagine this book grabbing readers from the off. Told in the first person, eventually from more than one viewpoint in protagonist's journal entries, this horror story is delivered in small chunks that give a 'just one more sweetie' feeling to tempt us to read on; perfect for those who have struggled to read longer books. The opening has innocent Jonathan Harker looking forward to meeting Count Dracula, unaware of what child readers will surely already know will be BIG trouble ahead!

We're soon into entrapment, a host with pointy teeth, no reflection or shadow, hairy palms, and a penchant for leaving his castle by scuttling like a lizard, head down, straight down the wall of his castle. Weird beautiful women want to be kissed. Coffins arrive. Then live children in a sack to feed those vampiric beauties (the origin of the Child Catcher?). We move from Transylvannia to Whitby, and now it is heroine Min who tells everything as her innocent lady friend is punctured and blood-sucked, becomes a vampire herself, and has to have a stake hammered through her heart before her head is cut off and mouth stuffed with garlic. The horror escalates with a chase over sea and land to try and kill Count Dracula before Min now a vampire herself, is totally lost. 

Plenty to thrill young readers, but will they 'get' why holding a communion wafer would be a weapon of choice? I'm not sure I understand quite what's going on here as 'the body of Christ' who 'rose from the dead' is used against 'the undead'. 

I'm glad to have read this, and its retold beautifully, but I would perhaps point child readers towards much better horror stories written by brilliant contemporary writers such as Chris Priestley, Tom Palmer, Cathy MacPhail, Chris Wooding, and more.  

Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’, retold by Tanya Landman, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

          

            This is an exciting retelling of the story of naïve, ambitious Pip who is so caught-up in the promise of his ‘great expectations’ that he turns snobbishly against dear blacksmith Joe, his childhood protector. That, to me, is the relationship in the story that matters most. Yet, to Pip, it his love for steely cold Estella, warped by the disappointed life of Miss Haversham who Pip supposes is the source of his suddenly gentlemany life with no trade to follow but a great deal of debt. We readers, along with Pip, are thrown when we discover that Pip’s benefactor is actually the scary convict Magwich who Pip had helped when a boy at the story’s opening. 

            This strange story of bitterness, revenge, snobbery and control, played out with moments of huge drama and a cast of deliciously, mostly awful, characters, is cleverly streamlined by Tanya Landman. We gallop enjoyably through the action, forever led-on by promises and fears and hope. This version is written with those with a reading age of 9+ in mind, yet is a full-blooded reading experience for fluent reading people into adulthood. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

            It’s wonderful that great stories can be filleted into relatively easy reads, accessible to so many more readers. 

The Battle of Cable Street

I'm currently struggling with a (very) literary bestseller for adults, one so densely written - in language I've never heard anybody outside a novel use - that I'm having to set myself a fixed number of pages per day to get through it. (It's for my book club and I do always read the books we choose.) The topics it deals with are definitely contemporary - motherhood, marriage, school shootings - and definitely worth talking about. But it's the language that's defeating me, and making me almost resent the subjects it's considering.

Then I come to Tanya Landman's The Battle of Cable Street, which manages to tell a politically-engaged story about a real event in the past that has stacks of relevance for today, to tell it from the viewpoint of a child and, at the same time, to make it so readable. It's short: 109 pages. The language is crisp, vivid and accessible to all ages. I went through it in one sitting.

It starts as a sketch of life in the East End of London in the 1930s, with kids messing about and playing games. But then, when Sir Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirt followers in the BUF (British Union of Fascists) begin to make themselves heard, it gathers momentum, building in fear and tension until the battle of the title explodes in the streets, with anti-fascists taking on both the BUF and (a detail I hadn’t been aware of before) mounted police sent by the Home Office to protect the BUF!

It's a fierce and timely reminder that some struggles are never over. Or, as the narrator of the book puts it: ‘Once you defeat an evil like fascism, that should be the end of it. It took me years to realize that it’s like housework. No matter how often you clean up, the dirt just keeps on coming back.’

If anybody were to ask me why children's books should be taken as seriously as literature for adults, I'd offer The Battle of Cable Street as Exhibit A.

The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers by Savita Kalhan

The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers - aka TIGERS of Finchley Church End Library

                             Earlier this year I volunteered to start a teen reading group at my local library to meet once month on a Monday. Our first meet was in April and I wasn't sure whether anyone would actually turn up, but to my surprise four teens did and we had lots of fun talking about books, sharing our favourite reads, and discussing which books we'd like to read in the group. I blogged about it on An Awfully Big Blog in May and you can read it here.

             

 I promised an update on the group, so here it is. I'm happy to report that a few months on and the group is going strong! We're up to ten teens in the group, we've read lots of books, and we've even given ourselves a name! The kids came up with TIGERs, which they decided stands for The Incredible Gang of Excellent Readers. All we need is a logo for the group.

              Initially the teens were a little shy about talking about books, and about writing review cards of the books they've read, but a few months on and they're all much more confident about talking about books and very keen to write reviews for our board in the library, sharing their favourite reads and recommending books.

              

We've been unofficially shadowing the Carnegie, and, as an author, it's been very interesting to hear what the teens have had to say about the books they've read, about the stories and their themes, book covers and illustrations, and characters and plots. The group have read and loved Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman. So well done, Tanya, for wowing your readers, and for winning the prized Carnegie Medal too!

              One thing has been very clear - TIGERs enjoy hanging around bookshelves in libraries - at the end of our session they go and check out the library shelves - and I can't get them to leave! And they all enjoy a far more diverse range of books than most bookshops stock. They're hungry for choice, interested in recommendations and happy to try out different types of books. Luckily for them, Finchley Central still has a great local library!

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Calling Teen Readers by Savita Kalhan

After attending a few meetings fighting library cuts in Barnet, I decided to get involved in my local library in a small way. Finchley Church End Library had no teen reading group, so with the help of the head librarian, the wonderful Steve Saunders, I decided to try and set one up. Flyers were sent round to all the local schools, and we were hopeful that it would attract a few kids.

Last week we had our first meeting. I went prepared and armed with lists of books. The librarian had reserved books from the Carnegie shortlist for me, so that the teens could have a look at each book before deciding which one they wanted to read and discuss first.

I got to the library early and set up the table. And then I waited. Ten minutes into the time, no one had arrived and I began to wonder whether there would in fact be no reading group because there was just no interest.

And then four kids arrived! And they were all into books and reading and excited to share what they liked and what they didn’t, what they had read over the last year and what they wanted to read. There were three girls and one boy, and all of them said they had friends who would love to join and could they let them know so they could come next time.

Of course I said yes, happily.

The kids decided that they did want to unofficially shadow the Carnegie and the book they voted to read first was When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan (I think the swear words in the book only played a small part in that choice!). Our next session will be discussing the book and the issues it raises. The kids hadn’t heard of either Tourette’s or Asperger’s, so we’ll be talking about both of those conditions.

They have also decided that next they want to read Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan, and then next Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman.

 

Hopefully, from these small beginnings the teen book club will grow and thrive, and I’m looking forward to sharing with them the many amazing teen books that are out there.

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Choice and Libraries: If You Can't Buy it, Borrow It! by Savita Kalhan

In my blog for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure back in December, I shared a list of some of my favourite teen and young adults books that I'd read in 2014. You can read that blog here - Favourite Teen/YA reads of 2014. Commenting on the blog, David Thorpe asked me an interesting question – why were those books in particular on my favourite reads of the year? His question made me wonder if there was something that linked the books, a shared theme, a particular voice, or a genre. I looked at the list and at first thought: no, the books are all very different. Some of them were written in the first person present, others in the third person past; some had a male POV, others a female. Many of them were set in different parts of the world, or in an alternative world, or in a different time.

All the books in my list are richly diverse in terms of when and where they are set. Most of them are set in different countries, from Denmark to Ireland, Germany to the USA, and  I think that’s part of their lure for me. Many of the books are set in a different time or era: from the 19^th Century to a version of the future, or even a parallel time.

Some of the books are fairy tale like. The Hob and the Deerman reads like a wonderful fairy tale and reminds me of all the fairy stories I read as a child. I would happily invite a Hob to come and share my home. Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood and Co, is set in London – but although the places in the book may be familiar to a Londoner, it’s not quite like the London we know. It’s beset by ghosts and ghouls that only children have the ability to see and deal with. So, when darkness falls, the adults lock their doors, leaving the child agents to do their work.

It was just as I finished reading Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys at Christmas, that I realised there was a common thread between all the books in my list. Out of the Easy is the story of Josie, the daughter of a prostitute in New Orleans in the 1950’s. It’s a book that I would definitely include in my list of favourite teen/YA reads of 2014.

It is the fact that they are set in a different time and place and sometimes in a different world which sets these books apart, and I think that’s what I love about them. All the writers beautifully evoke their setting, so that by the time you’ve finished their book you come away feeling as though you really know that place.

It’s not only the variety of world settings or time they’re set in that set these books apart for me, but also the variety in the lives of the characters. In both of Tanya Landman’s books, Buffalo Soldier and Apache, the main characters are girls: one is a black slave and the other is an orphaned Apache. If I had a teenage daughter, I would be recommending them to her. (Luckily I have nieces to whom I can recommend books!) But my teen son has no problem with books where the main character is a girl, and is interested in reading both.

The choice available in many bookshops these days does not fully reflect the diversity and richness of teen and young adult fiction. Although bookshops have more space devoted to teen/YA fiction, a lot of that space is still devoted to genre fiction, or to the bigger well-known authors. It would be great to see much more diversity on their shelves too. Most main libraries stock far more richly diverse fiction, although, sadly, smaller local libraries are seeing their stocks dwindle, in some cases (as here in Barnet) being purposely run down by councils prior to being closed or scaled down. Yes, you can still request a book from another library, and in some libraries they will order it for you if it’s not in any of the borough’s libraries. But most of these libraries are now run by volunteers or library assistants, and this is true of virtually all of Barnet’s libraries, and whilst they are good, a qualified librarian’s skills and guidance are not available to kids looking for help. As a child and a teenager, Wycombe Library had a brilliantly stocked library, fantastic librarians, and the choice of children’s books was astounding – I should know as I read practically every book in there!

Here’s an unashamed plug for libraries - it’s National Libraries Day on February 7^th. Events are happening in libraries across the country from Friday 6^th into the following week. If you have a minute, check out the link here to see what’s going on in your local library.


Here’s the hashtag for National Libraries Day on Twitter #NLD15
Or share a library #shelfie
Follow @NatLibrariesDay on Twitter and you’ll know what’s going on.

So the books are there – if you can find them or have been made aware of them. I’m hoping 2015 will be even more richly diverse in teen and young adult literature. I’m sure I’ve missed a few great reads in 2014, so please feel free to leave your recommendations in the comments. And I’d love to hear what makes a book stand out for you.

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Favourite Teen/YA Reads of 2014 by Savita Kalhan

In January this year I decided to challenge myself to reading 55 books. I did it through Goodreads to track what I’ve read and when I’ve read it. Some of the books I’ve read have been for ‘work’, some for research and others for sheer pleasure.

My to-be-read pile is always huge and there never seems to be enough time for reading, so doing it this way keeps me on track – the message: you’re x number of books behind is enough to spur me on to make more reading time. Apparently, I’m ‘on track’, with a few weeks to go before December 31^st by which time I’ll hopefully have made it to the magic 55 books read mark. Looking back over my list of books read, I thought I’d share some of my favourite teen/YA reads of the year.

 

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman

 

 

The Hob and the Deerman by Pat Walsh

 

 

 

The Case of the Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Wish Me Dead by Helen Grant

Between Two Seas by Marie-Louise Jensen

The Unicorn Hunter by Che Golden

 

Apache by Tanya Landman

 

 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

 

 

 

I’ll stop there or else it’ll end up being a very long list! It also makes me wish I had read more of my to-be-read pile.

I hope you’ll share some of your favourite teen/YA reads of the year in the comments – the more book recommendations I get the bigger my smile! Merry Christmas!

 

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Girls on Film: by Tanya Landman

Today we have a guest post from Tanya Landman. One of Tanya's many previous books, Apache, was shortlisted for the Carnegie. For her latest, Buffalo Soldier, she returns to America, to the time of the Indian Wars. (For a review, see here.) Read on to find out about the inspiration behind her heroine.

I grew up very confused.
            My grandmother was born in 1903:  her generation had lived through WW1 and WW2, keeping the home fires burning and the country running, dealing with grief and loss with heroic fortitude.  All around me I could see strong, intelligent, capable women: there was nothing weak or feeble about any of them!  
            And yet when it came to film and TV,  if a woman appeared on screen at all,  you could guarantee three things.  She would:  
            1) scream   
            2) fall over 
            3) need rescuing.
Oh yes – and if she was being chased she’d be in high heels and she’d never ever have the sense to take her shoes off so she could run properly.  I seemed to spend most of my childhood yelling at the screen, “Don’t do that, you stupid woman!”

That’s probably why the film of Gone With The Wind had such a big effect on me.  Of course, there are all kinds of problems with it for a modern audience, but I saw it for the first time when I was eleven and Scarlett O’Hara – tough, manipulative, determined, resourceful – was a revelation.  OK, so she wasn’t particularly likeable.  But then, Scarlett didn’t give a damn about whether people liked her or not.  She was her own person, a  belle turned businesswoman, and  I admired her.
            But as far as female role models on screen were concerned,  Scarlett was kind of it.
            It’s true that every so often a character would come along who would be hailed by the press as a feminist icon.  I remember when Sarah Jane joined Doctor Who she was said to be something new and different.  She had a job!  Sarah Jane was a journalist, no less.   Wow! Here was a companion with brains!!!!
            I watched the first episode with avid interest.  As I recall she did the guaranteed 1 – 3 in about five minutes flat.
            It was the same with Marian Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark.   Another ‘breakthrough’ female character I thought she was great – for a while.  All right, she drinks men under the table, she wears trousers, she runs her own bar and stands up for herself.  But oh dear – pretty soon  there she is needing to be rescued.  And later  – well, there’s a big surprise – she ends up in high heels and a frock.
            When I started writing I wanted to create female characters who were not only capable of saving

their own skins, but of rescuing other people too. Who had adventures and faced challenges; who were good at what they did and could think and act for themselves. Just like real women, in fact.  I’ve written the kind of people I’d have enjoyed reading about in my youth:  the kind of ones I’d have loved to have seen on TV: people like Charley O’Hara, the subject of my new novel, Buffalo Soldier. Charley – born Charlotte – is born a slave, but she eventually achieves freedom – after a spell in one of the black regiments of the American Army (as a ‘buffalo soldier’) in the 19^th century Indian wars. Quite a girl!             So – in my dreams – I think it’s about time that Hollywood came along to make  me an offer I can’t refuse.   Come on, guys!  Charley O’Hara would look great on screen!  And it’s about time Katniss had some company….