"words weren't just markings on a page to be passively absorbed and enjoyed but could be tools, treasures and toys all in one." (The Phantom Tollbooth)
"I have lived so many lives through books, gone to so many places, so many eras, looked through so many different eyes, considered so many different points of view."
A few months ago a fellow children's literature enthusiast loaned me her copy of Bookworm. I thought I would dip in and read a few chapters - the cover looked interesting and it was tactile.
A few days later I lifted my head with a huge sigh of happiness. While I was not lucky enough to have the fabulous book-abundant childhood of Lucy Mangan, she loved and read so many books that I loved and read that I felt as though I had emerged from a long a joyous conversation about hundreds of wonderful children's books and our shared memories of reading them. We both visited the public library with our dad, we both received books as presents from relatives and family friends and we both continue to love reading children's books even though we are now adults. If you, too, are a huge fan of children's books both especially the ones you read as a child then this is a PERFECT book.
Here are some moments of shared joy:
Chapter 1 The Very Hungry Reader
Miffy "To look into Miffy's face - two dots for eyes and a cross for a mount comprising a face that somehow looked back at me with happiness, sadness, anticipation, bewilderment, surprise and all points in between"
Chapter 2 - Dr Seuss
Lucy is able to say what I always thought but could not express the huge mess created by that cat in The Cat in the Hat. All I knew was it disturbed me. Lucy calls it "anapaestic anarchy". My family home was such a tidy one I remember being quite distressed by all that mess and also the worry that the mother would come home and see the chaos.
Chapter 3 Now I am Six
I know it will warm the heart of another book loving friend of mine to her Lucy declare "It was with The Owl who was Afraid of the dark that I truly fell in love with the act of reading itself." Lucy also reminded me how rereading is so important for children. It takes a lot of energy to decipher a text but once this is mastered the child can then "begin to get lost in the story." I love her phrase - you can't wear out a book's patience. If you have a chance to pick up this book read page 73 and if you are a teacher you might give a copy of page 73 to all parents. (I would also look at the wisdom on pages 206-7)
In chapter 3 Lucy also talks about The Happy Family series by Allen and Janet Ahlberg and a little hardcover book series called Antelope books (Hamish Hamilton) which I remember along with books about doll houses (I long to find my childhood one with hot and cold taps) and the wonderful Flat Stanley. At age six Lucy also encountered Ladybird Books and the wonders of Roald Dahl. I marvel that she read these when so young. Like Lucy I also find George's treatment of his grandma quite aggressive and not perhaps as funny as intended. We both prefer Matilda and the BFG.
Chapter 4 - The Blyton Interregnum
My Blyton time was spent with The Secret Seven and Noddy. I scorned the Famous Five and decided The Seven were a better choice. Lucy read many more Blyton titles and loved this period.
Chapter 5 - Through a Wardrobe
Early in this chapter Lucy mentions The Borrowers - their world always fascinated me. "drawing pins as candleholders, stamps as pictures on their walls, small coins as plates and cotton reels as stools." But there is also the bravery of Arrietty and for Lucy it was her first fantasy book. This, then, leads her perfectly to Narnia and just like Lucy my first joy with these books came from a gift of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lucy herself also discovered a heroine called Lucy!
In this chapter Lucy confesses she deliberately did not read Fairy Tales as a child and this is where she and I part ways because I devoured fairy tales and still hold The Wild Swans to one of my all time favourite stories. As Lucy says about this embargo "being a bookworm does not necessarily mean being a good reader."
At this time Lucy also found Noel Streatfeild and so did I. I loved Ballet Shoes even though I had no interest in actually taking dancing lessons and then I moved from Streatfeild onto the Wells books by Lorna Hill. To this day I continue to be tantalized by the idea of sitting in a cafe eating ices as those Wells girls did. Reading many titles from this series is a truly happy book memory for me.
Towards the end of this chapter, though, Lucy Mangan and I part ways because her next reading adventure was with horse stories and I read none! This section made me laugh out loud with her references to titles such as A Pony for Jean, Another Pony for Jean and More Ponies for Jean.
Chapter 6 - Grandmothers and Little Women
When her grandmother gave Lucy a copy of Little Women she was entranced both with the story but also the edition. A red leather volume with gold curlicues, beautiful endpapers, a biography of the author and an introduction - "Why would I read ABOUT the book when the actual book was there, waiting to be read just a few pages on?" Lucy - thank you for making me laugh out loud!
In this chapter Lucy confesses to another enduring rule - one which I did not follow - against talking animals. Hence she missed out on Wind in the Willows, Tarka the Otter and earlier in her life books by Beatrix Potter, Winnie the Pooh and the Brambly Hedge series.
Chapter 7 - Wonderlands
Now we turn to The Secret Garden and on this topic Lucy and I are in complete agreement. We both loved this book, the garden and Dickon. "At that age, once I was reading, my concentration was total, my immersion in the book complete. A few sentences was all it took for the world to fade away and fiction to assume reality."
Chapter 8 - Happy Golden Years
These were the early days of Puffin books and Lucy started saving her own money so she could buy books like Charlotte's Web. This book outraged Lucy. "I. Could. Not. Believe. it. ... I was beyond appalled." Luckily for Lucy her next book was a sheer delight of words and ideas - The Phantom Tollbooth. She says "reading this book was like watching the translucent paper being peeled off a transfer, revealing the true colour beneath. The world of every book would glow a little brighter ever after." I love this image and idea.
The next book was certainly life changing one for me too - Goodnight Mister Tom. Thank you Lucy I will now go back and revisit this wonderful book. You can expect to read my thoughts in a future post.
Chapter 9 - Darkness Rising
Lucy reaches High School and like I did, she finds dystopian fiction in books like Z for Zachariah, The Tripods series by John Christopher and Brother in the Land.
Chapter 10 - A coming of Age
Once again Lucy and I agree on our favourites - Bridge to Terabithia, and Dicey's Song. Where we part company is on Sweet Valley High. No titles from this series ever reached my reading pile but Lucy devoured them.
Thanks to Lucy Mangan I have encountered some delicious new words such as zeugma, interregnum and percolations.
On the final pages of Bookworm there are lists of all the books mentioned in each chapter. Thanks to this I hunted out Would you rather and talked about here it a few weeks ago. Listen to an audio sample from Bookworm.
Here are some very warm reviews:
The Guardian
The Irish Times
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