did anyone ever read Nicholas Fisk? when i was a kid i remember reading 'Space Hostages', 'Robot Revolt', 'Grinny' and 'Trillions' - taking them out of Newton Aycliffe library. They seemed just *enough* like the Doctor Who books I'd run out of. Now i'm catching up with a Fisk that came out after I'd passed that age (the first time) - 'On the Flip Side', and it's just wonderful.
At first it's about a girl, Lettice, who can speak to her pets - and then, very quickly, it turns into a novel of impending global catastrophe. It turns out that the animals are all being menaced by... giant, semi-transparent, stripy Blobs. Doctor Kalabza - a wildly eccentric TV personality - is one of the first to believe Lettice's ideas - landing his helicopter in her garden and inviting her onto TV to tell the world about what's really going on.
It's written so beautifully - and, though my description has made it sound ridiculous - it's carried out with utter seriousness. The scenes with Lettice talking to her dog and other animals are actually very touching - filled with her compassion for them, and her sense of the limits of their perceptions.
Another YA author I have been completely bowled over by this year so far is Betsy Byars. Someone i never read when i was young - simply because i wouldn't have been allowed to take 'girls' books' out of the library! She's a wonderful writer. Somehow her language, her sentences - the twists that her characters' thoughts take - they are extremely accurate. They're so *true.* Recently I've read The Cartoonist, The TV Kid and The Midnight Fox - the last of which was my favourite, and one I know I'll go back to. Yesterday I was delighted to find that the majority of her work was published on Kindle - just last week! (A little bit pricily, compared with most kindle books - but never mind.)
It's written so beautifully - and, though my description has made it sound ridiculous - it's carried out with utter seriousness. The scenes with Lettice talking to her dog and other animals are actually very touching - filled with her compassion for them, and her sense of the limits of their perceptions.
Another YA author I have been completely bowled over by this year so far is Betsy Byars. Someone i never read when i was young - simply because i wouldn't have been allowed to take 'girls' books' out of the library! She's a wonderful writer. Somehow her language, her sentences - the twists that her characters' thoughts take - they are extremely accurate. They're so *true.* Recently I've read The Cartoonist, The TV Kid and The Midnight Fox - the last of which was my favourite, and one I know I'll go back to. Yesterday I was delighted to find that the majority of her work was published on Kindle - just last week! (A little bit pricily, compared with most kindle books - but never mind.)
Nicholas Fisk was one of my favourite writers as a child, and he was well-represented in my primary school library. I should revisit them now, but I've not seen any of his stuff for years.
ReplyDeletei'm glad to find that they're many more titles than i thought! he's oop, i think - and weirdly, given his space-aginess - nothing of his is available on kindle..!
DeleteLoved Fisk novels... I used to steal them from my younger brother, and I still remember the chills that Grinny gave me. Weren't some televised - I'm sure I remember Trillions on Children's TV?
ReplyDeleteCan't remember any being televised, Jane. Closest they've got is Doctor Who 'borrowing' from 'Trillions' last year for 'The Power of Three.'...
DeleteI read 'Trillions' when I was at school. Never braved 'Grinny' though - the cover of the edition in the school library was too creepy for me, I could never bring myself to actually read it!
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