A Book for All Writers

The Night Gardener
by Jonathan Auxier
Harry N. Abrams, 2014
review copy from the public library, but I will want this one for my classroom library


This is a creepy Victorian tale of two orphans who find themselves working in an English manor house that is overrun by an ominous tree and visited at night by a mysterious spirit-man.

At the heart of the book, however, and what makes it a "book for all writers" is STORY and storytelling. Molly holds her brother Kip's world together with storytelling. Stories give them hope and help them deal with the uncertainties of life. Molly uses stories as currency, keys, and salve.

"I think I figured it out." She sniffed, looking up at the stars. "Hester asked me what the difference between a story and a lie was. At the time, I told her that a story helps folks. 'Helps 'em do what?' she asked. Well I think I know the answer. A story helps folks face the world, even when it frightens 'em. And a lie does the opposite. It helps you hide." 

Here's to more good stories, like this one. Here's to the writing that will bring them to life.

Here Lies Arthur

Here Lies Arthur

by Philip Reeve

Scholastic, 2008
review copy provided by the publisher

I'm always in the mood for a good retelling of the Arthurian legend, and Philip Reeve did not disappoint me.  

This story is set during the formation of Arthur's legend. Arthur is pretty much of a bully and plunderer; Merlin's magic is in the stories he spins to reinvent the truth. Sound like modern politics?Art does indeed imitate life and vice versa.

The story is told from the point of view of an orphaned servant girl who is used by Merlin to pull off the Lady of the Lake stunt, then disguised by him as his servant boy until she is too old to pass as a boy. Merlin then reintroduces her as a cousin of his servant boy, and plants her as a lady in Guenevere's court so she can spy for him. 

The whole book is a meditation on the power of story to create an enduring "truth." And maybe that's not always a bad thing. Not always.

 

The Telegraph reports that Here Lies Arthur won the 2007 Carnegie Medal. 

The Guys Lit Wire post is entitled "King Arthur, Lout."  (cross-posted at the excelsior file)