Here's an amusing tale of rags to riches and the impact that has on those surrounding the young protagonist. Charming and occassionally surprising. Perhaps not as good as The Secret Garden, where our protagonists are allowed flaws but I'm glad I got round to this one.
A colourful, lusty comical look into the life of one Maurice Swift, who is both flamboyant and arrogant, in his attempt to become a world famous novelist. The only problem is that Swift had zero talent as an author and resorts to plagiarism to achieve his aims. As a narcissist he has no consideratio...
Audience: Grades 6 & up Format: Hardcover/Library Copy Although Pierrot Fischer's father didn't die in the Great War, his mother, Emilie, always maintained it was the war that killed him. - first sentence So, I picked up this book because the cover reminded me of The Boy in the Striped Paj...
“This House is Haunted” is a book about a haunted house. Surprise, surprise! The ingenuity of the title should have given me an inkling about the quality of the book. But since I was in the mood for a haunted house story and John Boyne is a well-beloved author, I decided to give it a try. To put i...
The Heart’s Invisible Furies, John Boyne, author; Stephen Hogan, narrator I was so looking forward to reading this book because I admire the author’s work. After reading the first few chapters, I raved about it and recommended it. The narrator was great, interpreting situations and voices well. Soo...
(Original Review, 1981-05-20)I am reading the English version of Pinocchio; I read it, obviously many times in my language and the other day I found a small book with this title and I was curious to see how it was in a different language from mine. I also want to "invite him for dinner" as it is the...
What happens when the mother of Danny Delaney causes a near fatal accident and the repercussions are felt by families on both sides. This is a short story from John Boyne more suited to teen readers, I must admit I found the story not much to my liking it is enjoyable but there are much better novel...
John Jacob Turnstile earns his living on the streets of Portsmouth as a petty thief. He has no real life, no real friends, employed in the services of Mr Lewis and used periodically to feed the sexual desires of propertied gentlemen. When the theft of a pocket watch leads to the arrest of young Mast...
The Absolutist is a conscientious objector, one who refuses not only to be involved in the dirty business of taking arms against an enemy but also to help in any way the war effort by carrying out ancillary tasks. They were nicknamed Feather men.... (The notion of a white feather representing cowar...
Read with my son as part of our WWII/ holocaust studies - we both loved it! He also watched the movie at school too and enjoyed it. I haven't seen the movie yet so can't offer a comparison but I hope to remedy that soon.
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