Leonora
Basic
Dusting off some old manuscripts last week, I got excited by a children's novel I started about ten years ago and never finished. In my enthusiasm I decided to find out what was happening in the world of children's books. (My kids have grown up now. For a while I was quite tuned in.)
The Skylark's War was recommended by several sources as one of/the best book of 2018.
I loved it. It's funny in the style of E. Nesbit, deeply humane and with wonderful characters, telling the experience of living through the first world war. In a lot of ways it reminded me of The Cazalet Chronicles, a 'grown up' series.
And that raises a lot of questions. I'd love to know what anyone else thought about it - especially those of you writing children's fiction. I thought it was marketed as Middle Grade, but it works perfectly well as a novel for all ages. In fact, it hardly seemed written for kids at all.
Which I liked very much! The compartmentalizing of so much literature by age seems a bit depressing to me. But from a craft and pitching point of view it raises interesting questions and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And quite apart from that, I highly recommend it.
The Skylark's War was recommended by several sources as one of/the best book of 2018.
I loved it. It's funny in the style of E. Nesbit, deeply humane and with wonderful characters, telling the experience of living through the first world war. In a lot of ways it reminded me of The Cazalet Chronicles, a 'grown up' series.
And that raises a lot of questions. I'd love to know what anyone else thought about it - especially those of you writing children's fiction. I thought it was marketed as Middle Grade, but it works perfectly well as a novel for all ages. In fact, it hardly seemed written for kids at all.
Which I liked very much! The compartmentalizing of so much literature by age seems a bit depressing to me. But from a craft and pitching point of view it raises interesting questions and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And quite apart from that, I highly recommend it.
