NEED A GOOD READ FOR A WINTERY NIGHT?

I hope you'll consider the exciting children's novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, (published 1962) by Joan Aiken, for your next read aloud this winter.

Most of the action of this Gothic-era story takes place inside a grand English manor house, "Willoughby Chase" (oddly enough, the wolves are mainly in the background of the story); add a wicked governess, two cousins (a plucky rich girl and a penniless orphaned girl) and a kind country gooseboy, and you've got characters and drama that would rival any Frances Hodgsdon Burnett story (with some abusive Roald Dahl-style authority figures, Agatha Christie twists and turns, and a Charles Dickens prison-like-school thrown in)...can you resist that for a cold winter's night?

Young Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia are threatened not only by wolves, but by a new governess - their distant relative "Miss Slighcarp" - who is sent for when Bonnie's doting parents leave Willoughby Chase for a healthful sea voyage.  Simon the gooseboy tries to help the girls escape the trials and misfortunes as things go from bad to unbearable, thanks to their grim governess.  But it's not all darkness and drear.  The cruel adults in the story are balanced by kind and caring ones and, in the end, good overcomes evil.

My niece and nephew recommended this book to me - I wish I'd read it as a child!  Your child will like it, especially if he or she enjoyed The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy,  James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, or Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.  If you are the designated adult reader, you will like it if you enjoyed Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, or any of the Agatha Christie mysteries.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is the first in a series of books by Aiken. Click HERE to read more about Joan Aiken's 12 fantasy books that make up the Wolves of Willoughby Chase Chronicles. (Disclosure: I have not personally read the whole set.  The first book stands alone just fine). Ages 10 and up.

Happy Birthday to THE SECRET GARDEN - 2011 is its Centennial Year!

Did you know there is a REAL garden that inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett?

It is the kitchen garden of Great Maytham Hall, Rolvenden, in Kent, England, 

where she lived for ten years in the 1890's.  You can read about it HERE.

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of THE SECRET GARDEN, Frances Hodgson Burnett's beautiful story that has been a favorite of generations of girls (and boys) everywhere.  I loved the unfamiliar setting, wonderful characters, and riveting plot this book introduced me to as a child:  the lonely moors of Yorkshire, mysterious Misselthwaite Manor, a lost key to a hidden door, a tangled and abandoned garden, spoiled orphan Mary Lennox, her lonely Uncle Archibald, her hidden away-sickly-cousin-Colin, and kindhearted Dicken.

And of course, who can forget her little friend, the Robin...

"She stopped and listened to him and somehow his cheerful, friendly little whistle gave her a pleased feeling--even a disagreeable little girl may be lonely, and the big closed house and big bare moor and big bare gardens had made this one feel as if there was no one left in the world but herself. If she had been an affectionate child, who had been used to being loved, she would have broken her heart, but even though she was "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary" she was desolate, and the bright-breasted little bird brought a look into her sour little face which was almost a smile. She listened to him until he flew away. He was not like an Indian bird and she liked him and wondered if she should ever see him again. Perhaps he lived in the mysterious garden and knew all about it."

At its heart, the story is about two "disagreeable" children, Mary Lennox and Colin Craven, who, while transforming a dead and forgotten garden, are equally transformed themselves, as they cultivate a deep and enduring friendship.  "Two things cannot be in one place.  Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow."  The garden becomes a place of healing for them as well as for Colin's lonely father, Archibald.

THREE CENTENARY EDITIONS... 1911-2011

Centenary Edition with over 70 illustrations
by Robert Ingpen.  

Centenary edition, illustrated by
Lauren Child, due out Sept. 2011.

This beautiful edition with
embroidered cover design by
Jillian Tamaki, is due out in October 2011

BOOK COVERS OVER THE YEARS...WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE?

This was the edition that introduced me, as a child, to Burnett's THE SECRET GARDEN.  Beautifully illustrated by Tasha Tudor, it was first published in 1962.

Below is the first published edition of THE SECRET GARDEN, with illustrations by M.B. Kork, published in 1911 in its entirety (it had previously been published in serial format in American Magazine).

(photo courtesy of Project Gutenberg)

Another illustrator of an early edition
was Charles Robinson.

Illustrations by Inga Moore. 

 Graham Rust, illustrator.

Michael Hague's depictions.

JUST FOR FUN:  For any of you die-hard fans out there, take this SECRET GARDEN QUIZ and see how much you remember about this classic book!