Books I read in July! Part 1: The Lives of Christopher Chant, The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence, Rooftoppers

Helloo! Here's part one of my July reading roundup. I read 9 books in July so I'm splitting the reviews up into chunks. I read three lovely middle grade/ children's books, which was such a nice, cosy, comforting thing to do. The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones, The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpenec by Jennifer Bell, and Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell.

The Lives of Christopher Chant

This wonderful prequel is set years before Charmed Life and follows Christopher Chant's childhood before his adult role of Chrestomanci begins. Christopher has the ability to travel between worlds, which he does at night in his sleep, unbeknownst to his parents visiting wonderful vivid lands. Upon his Uncle Ralph's discovery of this power, Christopher is sent to these lands to bring back magical objects and artefacts. These dangerous trips lead to several disastrous injuries and it isn't long before Christopher's nine lives are discovered. Now destined to be the next Chrestomanci (for whom having nine lives is very important), and down several of those lives already, Christopher is sent off to Chrestomanci Castle to receive his magical education, much to his dismay as he has ambitions of being a cricket player. If you've read Charmed Life, you'll see a lot of Cat in Christopher as he gets used to the grim loneliness and strange magic of the castle. The goddess he meets in one of the worlds is a brilliant character, as is the cat Throgmorton. Full of Diana Wynne Jones' wonderful world building, charming details, and the perfect grumpy little boy voice. Definitely read this, Charmed Life and Howl's Moving Castle. I'll be getting myself a copy of every other Diana Wynne Jones book asap!

The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence

After their grandma Sylvie has a fall and is rushed to hospital, Ivy Sparrow and her big brother end up travelling through a suit case to a land beneath London, where everyday objects like colanders and belts have very Uncommon special usages in a very magical way. Their grandmother's past is intertwined with this underworld, but unfortunately that past is a big mystery as Sylvie lost her memory in a car crash years ago in 1969.  They have to figure out how their grandmother is linked to this uncommon world in order to ensure the safety of their family. The world building is vivid and wonderful creating one of my favourite alternate Londons. Ivy is a great lead character too. It really reminded me of Heap House by Edward Carey, with its uncommon objects, and had much of the charm of Diana Wynne Jones about it too!

Rooftoppers

This is a beautiful book. As a baby, Sophie is found floating in the sea in a cello case after a shipwreck in the English Channel, by a man named Charles. He raises her, but her place with him is threatened by the childcare authorities, who believe no young lady should be raised by a man alone. Sophie believes her mother was in that boat and has vivid memories of her playing the cello. She strongly believes her mother is still alive. So Charles and Sophie run away following a clue in her cello case to a Parisian music shop. With a fondness for high places, Sophie learns all about the city from its rooftops and along with some new rooftop dwelling friends, goes in search for clues to the possible whereabouts of her mother. It's a really magical-lovely-spellbinding-wonderful rooftop world, with a heartwarming and impossibly exciting story. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

That's it for part 1 of my July reading round up. Part 2 coming soon, featuring Passenger, Uprooted, On the Other Side and Ctlr, Alt; Delete!

Childhood Favourites: Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson was one of my favourite authors as a child. I still have a big collection of her books, with loads of hardbacks; I was always super keen to get new releases. My first Jacqueline Wilson book was a "double decker" of Double Act and Bad Girls. I remember standing reading it in the Waterstones on George Street in Edinburgh, while on a family shopping trip, and reading the whole first chapter, trying to send a strong hint to my parents that I wanted this book. Up until this point I had struggled with reading and was in the bottom reading group at school (this must've been in about 1998, when I was 8, I didn't find out I was dyslexic (with specifically slow reading skills) until I was 16). My hinting must've worked because they bought the book and I still have it. I couldn't stop reading this book, and soon my Jacqueline Wilson collection grew. I used to act out scenes from Double Act with my friend Clare in the play ground, where as the twins Garnet and Ruby we would become pop stars and play at Wembley, I think we even performed our work at Brownies. 

Her stories were so real and wonderful, covering mundane and terrible and brilliant lives all with the same care. Her own story is really interesting too. I haven't yet read her stories based on her life, but I really should soon. I loved the Girls Out Late/In Love etc. books and The Illustrated Mum too. Also, Nick Sharratt's illustrations became synonymous with the whole Jacqueline Wilson experience. I think I had one of books with a different illustrator and it just felt so wrong. He is so great at capturing her characters. She inspired me to love reading and I think my mum thanked her for this when we went to see her at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Thank you Jacqueline Wilson, I owe you!

REVIEW!: Wild Song- Janis Mackay- Piccadilly Press

Wild Song is a beautiful and enchanting book for children and adults alike. Janis Mackay spent a month on a Finnish Island on a writing residency, funded by Creative Scotland, to write this book, which sounds like a magical experience, and truly shows in the writing. The story follows Niilo, a 13 year old Finnish boy, who on top of having a terrible phobia of the sea, has horrible nightmares about drowning which drive him to spend his nights lying on the floor to avoid sleep, and disruptive anger issues which his parents can no longer deal with. Niilo is sent from Helsinki to live on a tiny island at the Wild School, where along with other boys who don't fit well with traditional education he is taught about nature, growing food, foraging, wood work and circus skills (among other things). Niilo's determination to 'free' drives him and he soon opens up to his case worker Hannu, who helps him search for his lost 'wild song'. 

Five things I loved about Wild Song:

5-The Finnish and Saami folklore was beautifully integrated into the story through Hannu. Seeing Niilo slowly embrace these stories and look for meaning and comfort in them was a great way to show his journey to finding those lost memories.

4-Niilo's anger issues were compassionately portrayed. With Niilo as narrator the reader was able to see and understand the thinking behind his actions, as Niilo himself attempted to understand them. Never were his feeling patronised or belittled, as his own version of events were what guided the reader.

3-Niilo's astute awareness of Hannu's methods of pep-talking and encouragement were spot on. Again Mackay never patronises Niilo, or the reader. He is aware when Hannu is gently pushing an idea on him, or telling him a story with a particular lesson in mind. He is even aware when that story is something he doesn't want to hear, and so stops listening. 

2-The Tove Jansson book in the wooden hut and Niilo wondering is maybe this island had been Tove's island. I love Tove Jansson's work so this reference gave me warm fuzzies when reading.

1-The seal! What a magical moment when the seal guides Niilo to shore, and helps him to fish, and keeps and eye on him. And the two seals popping up to greet Niilo and his mum, singing their wild song, was a perfect ending to a beautiful, thoughtful book. 

I'm strongly considering finding a way that I can spend a month on a Finnish island. Also my interest in selkies has been reawakened, and having a little look through Janis Mackay's previous work it looks like I have quite a few selkie-based children's books to indulge in. 

I'm currently doing the #MayBookChallenge on instagram- come follow me @ruthlily!

I was sent a copy of Wild Song by Hot Key Books/Piccadilly Press. This is not a paid review. All views are my own, and I just happened to love it! A version of this review has been posted on Goodreads and Amazon. Wild Song came out on 7 May 2015.