The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris

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adventure books, books about magic, books for boys, books for girls, funny books, Neil Patrick Harris, the magic misfits

The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris was sent to me by the Amazon Vine review programme in exchange for my honest opinion.

Neil Patrick Harris is probably best known by adults as the actor who played Doogie Howser M.D. and he continues to act in films and on t.v. This book is a new project, and the first of a series of tales featuring The Magic Misfits.

I’m always a bit cautious about books written by people who are not actually authors. Particularly so in this case as it seems to have been co-written by Alec Azam. I have to say, the style is rather clunky and it’s clear to me, as an adult reader, that this is not great fiction. Having said that, if I were a child reader, I would absolutely love this. In fact, if I had had this as a child I’d have been mildly obsessed with it.

Firstly, it’s simple to read with a really page turning adventure at its heart. I loved mystery stories as a child, and the gaping holes in this one wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest. Secondly, the characters are sympathetic. Carter, the hero of the piece, is a boy down on his luck, living with a con artist uncle, forced to do magic tricks to make ends meet. When his uncle tries to entice him into crime, Carter runs away and discovers a magical place like no other.

There are great, cartoon like illustrations throughout that work perfectly with the story and help to immerse the reader in the world the author has created. What would have sold it to me, and will sell it to countless children now, is that there are secret codes, letters to the reader, and a whole heap of ‘how to’ magic trick explanations in the book that you, as the reader can practice, so that you can become part of the Magic Misfits gang yourself.

It’s really fun. I recommend it to readers, both boys and girls (it’s got an impressive, and not entirely unexpectedly diverse group of characters in it in terms of race, gender and orientation – without pushing any agenda either, I might add) aged six to ten.

Christmas With The Savages by Mary Clive

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christmas books, Christmas With The Savages, classic books, funny books, Mary Clive, Victorian Childhood

Christmas With The Savages by Mary Clive has been on my to read list forever. It’s right up my street and having devoured it in a day, I am wondering why it took me so long to read it, and already on the look out for other work by her.

It is largely marketed as a children’s book these days, and I can kind of see where they’re coming from here. During my childhood, I inherited books from my mum’s childhood, and bought whatever looked child friendly from rummage sales and charity shops and read through all the library shelves. I was a voracious reader and there were simply not a lot of children’s books out there. The boom in children’s publishing is really down to the popularity of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. These days you have whole floors of children’s fiction. In the Seventies you were lucky to get a stack, and a lot of what was published tended to be older, classics.  I was used to old fashioned language and reading about children whose supposedly ‘normal’ childhoods were nothing like my own. I treated these books a bit like modern readers would treat fantasy or science fiction books. There was a willing suspension of disbelief.

So, Christmas With The Savages is this kind of book. It is old fashioned because it is old. Mary Clive grew up at the tag end of a Victorian era, into a wealthy, aristocratic family, with everything that entailed. Her story is of her own childhood Christmases, which I believe are rolled into one and turned into one particular Christmas where she stayed in a stately home (which was someone’s actual home) with a whole bunch of children who she had never met before. In the story, her father is ill in hospital and her mother is with him, so she travels alone, with her ‘useless’ French nursemaid, and is dumped into the hurly burly of another family’s Christmas.

I loved it. It’s funny and sharp and in places very poignant. It’s completely alien to life now, and rather like being reader as anthropologist. Some of the stories of what the children get up to are very Just William and laugh out loud funny. Whether you’d actually get a modern child to read it however, is debatable. If you have a child who is patient at waiting for stories to develop, who already reads classics and who likes old fashioned tales, this will be perfect. Otherwise I think a child reading alone will struggle. It would be a great read out loud story for a class doing a project on the Victorians or how Christmas has changed over the years, and I think, once a child is used to the rhythm and cadence of this, and is hooked by what is largely a very funny story, they might be persuaded to go it alone, but it’s a reach.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

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Discworld, fantasy books for children, Nac Mac Feegle, Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men, Tiffany Aching

The Wee Free Men is the thirtieth novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and the second book which was marketed as a children’s novel. Much like the first one, The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents, the only thing that makes it more child friendly than the rest of the series is the lack of innuendo. Otherwise it’s business as usual and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

This book sees the introduction of a new, and key character to the series, the child witch, Tiffany Aching.  It also sees the reintroduction of the rest of the witches, albeit in this book, in a brief cameo. I have a great fondness for this book because Tiffany and Granny Weatherwax are my favourite Discworld characters, and in this subset of books I believe that Pratchett came to the peak of his power as a writer. Nowhere does his love and also criticism of humanity shine as fiercely for me as it does in these novels.

Regular readers will know that my eleven year old son is reading these books to me, and he loved this. We have briefly met the Nac Mac Feegle in a previous Discworld novel (Carpe Jugulum), but here they really come into their own. I thought he would struggle with their language, but reading aloud really helped him understand what they were saying, and after an initial bit of difficulty, he really began to enjoy speaking their characters.

Tiffany lives on the chalk downs, and it’s a very different place to the rest of the Discworld. It’s farming country. It’s no nonsense, sheep rearing, cheese making and butter making for Tiffany. There is not supposed to be any magic on the chalk, except, Tiffany finds that there is, and only she can deal with it, from leading the Wee Free Men, to banishing the fairy queen, to understanding what it is to be a witch of the chalk, and to coming to terms with the loss of her beloved granny. This is a job for an Aching, and Tiffany is more than up for it.

This has broad comic moments that made Oscar and I laugh out loud. He particularly loved the character of Tiffany’s brother, Wentworth, and I have always had a soft spot for the Nac Mac Feegle and their lawless ways. I love the message of this book which is basically that it doesn’t stop being magic, just because you’ve figured out how it’s done.

Hortense and the Shadow by Natalie O’Hara

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early years books, Hortense and the Shadow, Lauren O'Hara, Natalie O'Hara, picture books

Hortense and the Shadow by Natalie O’Hara was sent to me by NetGalley in exchange for my review.

Hortense is a little girl who does not like her shadow, in fact she fears what her shadow represents. She does everything she can to escape it, and one day, rather like Peter Pan, she cuts her shadow off.  Hortense learns very quickly that the darkness is not entirely to be feared, and to be the best she can be, she needs to embrace and not shun her shadow side.

This is a deeply metaphorical picture book, but which can also be read as a slightly spooky fairy story.  It’s beautifully illustrated in a rather Slavic style by Lauren O’Hara. This, and the old fashioned style of writing mean that it sits in the more traditional realms of story telling. It has a very old fashioned vibe, complete with a moral message to suit more contemporary readers.

I confess that the story is not entirely to my taste. I think Levi Pinfold and his book, Black Dog, and Lemony Snicket’s The Dark (illustrated by Jon Klassen) tell the same kind of story, but for me in a more appealing way. This was rather lack lustre in the telling, although it is very, very pretty and I am sure that children will love it. It’s always a bit of a problem having a forty-five year old woman reviewing a book which would be better reviewed by early years children.

In summary, kids will love it. I didn’t. The pictures are fabulous. The wintry pictures would make this a great present for a child’s Christmas story and the fact that it is wintry rather than festive means it will have longevity and appeal.