A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

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A Hat Full of Sky, Discworld, fantasy books, funny books, magical books, Terry Pratchett, Tiffany Aching, witches

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett is the thirty-second book in the Discworld series, and the second to feature the witch of the chalk, Tiffany Aching. It is also the third book which was published ostensibly as one for children (The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and The Wee Free Men being the first two).  It is also my favourite of the entire Discworld series.

This book follows on from the action in The Wee Free Men. There is a brief recap to set the scene, and then we are thrown into Tiffany’s training as a witch and her run in with a creature called a Hiver, something which strikes fear into the hearts of even the Nac Mac Feegle themselves. Granny Weatherwax has a small, but significant role here, and this book is the one that establishes Tiffany as joining the sub-set of books about the witches.

For me, A Hat Full of Sky is so special because it shows Pratchett’s commitment to his theories of what magic is in a non-magical world. It’s where everything he’s been hinting at gets spelled out for those at the back. It’s him, doubling down on what it means to be a witch and what magic really is, and what that means for those of us stuck on a round world where witches don’t exist any more, except that for Pratchett they very much do. It’s the most humane, passionate and angry of his books and every time I read it, or in this case, have it read to me by my son, it makes me cry.

Oscar loved it too, almost certainly for different reasons. He’s an eleven year old boy. He’s got the joy I had of reading Pratchett the first time at a young age, and loving the story, and the funny bits, and then reading it again and again as he grows and seeing the layers, the cleverness, the wisdom and the complexity of the books that will make them endure long after other more ‘worthy’ tomes have fallen by the wayside.

I wrote about it on my main blog a few weeks ago, so I will finish with what I wrote there.

It’s my favourite of the Discworld books. Possibly one of my favourite books ever. There are many reasons to love it, tough, brilliant women characters for a start. It’s funny, and clever and sad and brilliant and it’s all about what it is to be human. And the magic? Well, the magic is in being human too. Here’s my favourite part. Here’s what Granny Weatherwax has to say about magic, and she is right.

‘She cares about ’em. Even the stupid, mean, dribbling ones, the mothers with the runny babies and no sense, the feckless and the silly and the fools who treat her like some kind of servant. Now that’s what I call magic – seein’ all that, dealin’ with all that, and still goin’ on. It’s sittin’ up all night with some poor old man who’s leavin’ the world, taking away such pain as you can, comfortin’ their terror, seein’ ’em safely on their way…and then cleanin’ ’em up, layin’ ’em out, making ’em neat for the funeral and helpin’ the weeping widow strip the bed and wash the sheets – which is, let me tell you, no job for the faint-hearted – and stayin’ up the next night to watch over the coffin before the funeral, and then going home and sitting down for five minutes before some shouting angry man comes bangin’ on your door ‘cos his wife’s havin’ difficulty givin’ birth to their first child and the midwife’s at her wits’ end and then getting up and fetching your bag and going out again…We all do that, in our own way, and she does it better’n me, if I was to put my hand on my heart. That is the root and heart and soul and centre of witchcraft that is. The soul and centre!’  Mistress Weatherwax smacked her fist into her hand, hammering out her words. ‘The…soul…and…centre!’

Echoes came back from the trees in the sudden silence. Even the grasshoppers by the side of the track had stopped sizzling.

‘And Mrs Earwig,’ said Mistress Weatherwax, her voice sinking to a growl, ‘Mrs Earwig tells her girls it’s about cosmic balances and stars and circles and colours and wands and…toys, nothing but toys!’ She sniffed. ‘Oh, I daresay they’re all very well as decoration, somethin’ nice to look at while you’re workin’, somethin’ for show, but the start and finish, the start and finish, is helpin’ people when life is on the edge. Even people you don’t like. Stars is easy, people is hard.’

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

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books for teens, fantasy books, funny books, Monstrous Regiment, satire, Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment is the thirty first novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It’s one of the few standalone novels in the series, although there are minor characters in it who appear in other books.

It tells the story of Polly Perks, a young woman living in the small, war torn country of Borogravia. In Borogravia, women are most definitely second class citizens. In Borogravia, everyone pays fealty to the Duchess, and to the God Nuggan. Between them, the Duchess and Nuggan have got the country by the short and curlies, fighting endless wars and avoiding all the things which are an abomination unto Nuggan, which include everything from jigsaws to everything that everyone who isn’t from Borogravia does.

Polly’s brother, Paul has gone off to fight, and she decides to bring him home. The only way she can do this is by pretending to be a boy, because girls can’t join the army. She is recruited by the alarming sergeant Jackrum and joins the ‘ins and outs’. Gradually she discovers that all her fellow recruits are also women, and that the war is not going quite as successfully as official sources would have everyone think.

This is a deeply bleak and satirical look at both the effects and damage of war and pre-conceived ideas about gender. There are some laughs here, but they’re bleak ones. Pratchett skewers his points home relentlessly in this novel, and you can really see the anger bubbling close to the surface here.

I recall when I first read it, many years ago, that I didn’t really like it much. I longed for the comfort of the softer, safer Discworld I was used to, and this was jarring and unfamiliar. Reading it again now, with my son, particularly at a time when gender issues are never far from the news, it had a completely different impact on me. I wanted to send it to everyone I know and force them to read it.

I was surprised at how much Oscar enjoyed this. In fact, he told me it is his favourite book of the series so far. When he had finished it he was genuinely disappointed it was over, and even more disappointed to find that Polly and her mates don’t feature in any more of the books.

Oh No, George by Chris Haughton

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Chris Haughton, funny books, Oh No George, picture books, story time books

I don’t read many picture books these days. My children are too grown up for them now, and as I am an ex-school librarian, I tend to have let keeping up with picture books slide off my radar, which is a shame, because there are some wonderful books out there I know I’m missing out on. To be honest, I feel like that about almost every kind of book I read, that there are wonderful things I am missing out on, so something has to give.

As I fossick about second hand book shops, which I do every week, the odd picture book will catch my eye, however, and the next few reviews are things I have caught up on in the idle days of feasting over Christmas.

Oh No, George, is a wonderfully funny book by Chris Haughton about a naughty dog called George. George doesn’t want to be a naughty dog. He hopes that he won’t be, but sometimes, as happens to the best of us, the temptation to do something he shouldn’t, cannot be denied.

The book follows George’s disastrous morning when his owner goes out and leaves him with the stricture to be good. The second half is George going to the park with his owner in an attempt to redeem his terrible behaviour at home.

It’s really simply written, and beautifully illustrated in bold, block colours and dynamic lines, and is full of energy and humour. It’s great, great fun, and one of those books that can stand to be read and re-read without getting old.

The Story of The Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit

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books for older readers, classic books, E Nesbit, funny books, The Bastables, The Story of the Treasure Seekers

I read and re-read E. Nesbit’s work as a child, with the exception of The Railway Children, which I only read once. It is probably the book she is most well known for, thanks to the film, but also the one least like her other work. The Story of The Treasure Seekers is the first in a series about the fortunes and misfortunes of a family of six children, called the Bastables. It is narrated by Oswald Bastable, the second oldest child, and oldest son of the family. It tells of the children’s attempts to restore the fortunes of the House of Bastable, after the death of their mother, and their father’s loss of wealth in a way we are never specifically told.

It may sound grim, and old fashioned (it was published in the Eighteen Nineties), but it is nothing of the sort. In fact, this book is so fresh and funny, that in some places, even after a gap of thirty years, and it really not being written for a middle-aged lady, I was crying with laughter as I read. I thought it might be because classic books tend to be easier to read and better appreciated by adults, but when my children asked what I was laughing about and I read it out to them, they loved it, and I read half the book out loud in one day of our holidays.

Nesbit is brilliant at writing for children, about children and in a way that is totally relatable by children, no matter when they’re reading. The children’s adventures are timeless, and their views on the world are easily understood by modern children, despite some of the language being a little outdated.

The book is available in various formats, but the version I read is published by Dover as part of their Children’s Evergreen Classics series, and was sent to me by Netgalley. It will be available from January 2018.

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 Adventures of Egg Box Dragon by Richard Adams

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Alex T Smith, books about dragons, funny books, picture books, Richard Adams, sharing books, The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon

Richard Adams is perhaps most famous for the novel, Watership Down, a book which I couldn’t read until I was an adult because books about animals made me cry so much, my mum banned them from the house when I was a child.

I was most intrigued when Amazon Vine offered me the chance to review his short story The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon, with new illustrations by the wonderful Alex T. Smith, author of the brilliant Claude, series.

The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon are charming, funny and luckily for me, not sad in any way at all. The story is funny and charming and perfect for sharing at bed time and story time.

Emma makes a marvellous dragon out of egg boxes and other bits of junk. When she gets home with it, the gardener suggests she wake up the magic in the dragon by leaving him in the garden overnight. She is sceptical, but the next morning when Egg Box Dragon is roaring all over the garden, she is forced to change her mind.

This is a lovely story which has been given a new lease of life by the gorgeous, funny illustrations of Alex T. Smith. I absolutely loved it.

Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony by Chris Riddell

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Chris Riddell, funny books, Goth Girl, Goth Girl and the sinister symphony

I was pretty gutted when I found out on Twitter yesterday that Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony is to be the last in the brilliant Goth Girl series by Chris Riddell. I have, as regular readers may know, a deep and abiding love for Chris Riddell’s work, whether it be his illustrations for other people, or his own work. I truly lost my heart to him when I discovered the Ottoline series, and my only consolation about the end of the Goth Girl series is that Ottoline is coming back.

The Goth Girl series is a thing of beauty and wonder in so many ways. The books are exquisitely produced,  fat little hand friendly volumes with ribbon book marks, gloriously decadent end pages, treat mini books in every volume, and exquisite, full colour pictures on every page.

Then there’s the writing. In these books Riddell surpasses himself as an author who can appeal to every type of reader. The stories are whimsical, funny and adventurous enough to satisfy the most demanding child reader, while working at a completely other level for adults with their wonderful breadth of allusions to history and popular culture. They are just perfect.

In this book, Lord Goth, ‘mad, bad and dangerous to gnomes’, has decided to host a musical festival ‘Gothstock’, at Goth hall. As ever, Ada Goth, his daughter and her Attic Gang, are sure that Maltravers, the evil butler is up to something, and it’s their job to find out what it is and ensure that Gothstock goes off without a hitch. Added to this is a visit by Ada’s grandmother, who is scheming to marry Lord Goth off to one of the three society beauties she has brought with her. Ada disapproves of all of them, and has other plans for Lord Goth.

My favourite bits of this book are the wickedly funny caricatures of Simon Cowell as Simon Scowl, who brings his ancient orchestra to perform at Gothstock, and the beautiful depiction of Donald Trump as Donald Ear-Trumpet with his tiny hands and big cannon. I loved these so much I think they’re worth the price of the book on their own.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

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Discworld, funny books, Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

The Amazing Maurice is the twenty eighth book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and the first one that he deliberately wrote as a children’s book. It won him his most distinguished literary prize, The Carnegie Medal, largely because I like to think that children’s librarians are much smarter than literary critics and have always known genius when they’ve seen it.

The Amazing Maurice is a cat who, like the educated rodents he hangs around with, spent too long eating things that the wizards at Unseen University threw away, and suddenly discovered he could think, and talk. Maurice and the rats have teamed up with a ‘stupid looking kid’, who can play the penny whistle, and are travelling the Disc, simultaneously infesting and ridding the town of a plague of rats, and a hefty sum of money for doing so.

As they arrive in Bad Blintz, the rats tell Maurice that this is their last con. They want to find the nirvana promised in the book Mr Bunnsy Has an Adventure, which has become their bible. Maurice grudgingly agrees, but before things can swing into action they find that sinister forces are afoot in Bad Blintz. Can they save themselves and the townspeople of Bad Blintz?

On first reading I found this a strange choice for a children’s book. The Amazing Maurice may have more than echoes of the Pied Piper fable. It may also be influenced by Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, but it is a very dark tale. It’s about the human in animals, and the animal in humans. It has moments of savagery and genuine fear and tension that many of the previous Discworld novels lack. Just as I assume that children’s librarians are smarter, I found this was the point where I realised that Pratchett knew children were smarter than your average adult, too. There is no pandering to young minds here. There is direct, straight talking, fierceness and no compromise whatsoever and it makes the book worthy of the Carnegie and every other prize you might care to mention.

It’s funny, of course. There’s a lot of mention of widdling in jam, but it’s also funny in an extremely macabre, sharp way that cuts to the bone of what Pratchett is doing, showing humans to humans and talking about what it is to be humane.

On re-reading it with Oscar, I only have more praise for it. It’s one of those books I think should be compulsory reading in schools. Sod Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. This is the one.

Mr. Penguin And The Lost Treasure by Alex T. Smith

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Alex T Smith, chapter books, funny books, Mr Penguin and the lost treasure

Mr. Penguin And The Lost Treasure by Alex T. Smith was sent to me Amazon Vine in exchange for my review.

Readers of the blog will know that I am a huge fan of Alex T. Smith and his Claude series, about Claude the stylish dog and his best friend Sir Bobblysocks. I was delighted when I was offered the chance to read this brand new adventure, which looks to be the start of a new series.

Mr. Penguin has come to Cityville to make a new start, after a fairly disastrous attempt to be a more traditional penguin. He dreams of adventure, fuelled by his love for the stories he reads, and decides to set up his very own detective agency, aided and abetted by his best friend, Colin the spider.

Things are looking bleak for Mr. Penguin when the story begins. He is down to his last fishmonger sandwich, and despite having put an ad in the local paper, business is non existent. That is, until he is contacted by the owner of the local museum asking him to search for hidden treasure that could save the museum from being closed down.

Mr. Penguin and Colin are on the case, and what ensues is a wonderful take on an Indiana Jones style adventure, but with a lot more penguin action. Colin is my favourite character. His terse nature and his ability to kung fu chop his way through most problems are absolute genius. I am also quite a fan of Gordon, the somewhat taciturn pigeon.

The story is fast paced and very funny. It has all the charm and humour that makes the Claude stories such a delight to read. The illustrations by Alex T. Smith are gorgeous, including the beautiful end plates and the production quality overall is high, making this a truly beautiful thing to own.

Longer than the Claude books, this is a more developed chapter book for the more confident solo reader, or a story you can share over several nights of story time. Perfect for children aged four and up, and me.