Kristen's review
Rating:
2 / 5
The book I'm going to talk to you about is called; The Children of Green Knowe, by L.M. Boston. I didn't really like this book. It was a little confusing and hard to understand. There just wasn't a clear point. There was not middle, or a climax and resolution. I thought this book was about a mystery or a ghost story, by the cover and the blip from the back. I was very disappointed in the ending, and that it was appoint-less fantasy, that bored me half to death!
The Children of green knowe was about a boy named, Tolly, who was the age of 8-11,whose parents die (they don't say how),so he was sent to live with hisGreat-Grandmother in Penny Soaky. Her house was called Old Knowe.
Three children, Alexander, Toby, and Linnet, died in Tolly's(the boy's name), Great Grandmother's house many centuries ago. They started appearing around the house just days after their death. They played with Tolly, and went on great Adventures. Enjoy one of Granny's stories every 20 pages, and learn about Tolly and Granny's love for the flute andthebirds.
Green grow the rushes oh
Rating:
5 / 5
I wasn't entirely certain what to expect when I picked up the much beloved but rarely discussed, "The Children of Greene Knowe". What I found was a book that was a little like "The Secret Garden" and a little like the beginning of "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase". It is, all in all, a very pleasant story about a boy and his ghostly companions. There are brief moments of conflict, but on the whole only good things happen to the protagonist. For children, this is an excellent introduction into the world of mysterious goings on.
Toseland (or Tolly for short) has just been sent by his father in Burma to live with his great-grandmother in jolly old England. Tolly is a little nervous, not knowing quite what to expect. What he finds is a magical castle called Green Noah, presided over by a loving kindly grandmother. But strange dealings occur in the house when Tolly arrives. A snatch of laughter here, reflected children's faces there, and inanimate objects that have the tendency of coming to life. To Tolly's delight there are three children in the castle, cheery ghosts of siblings that lost their lives in the Great Plague. Don't expect any meanderings on the meaning of life after death, or any explanations for that matter. The children are perfectly happy flitting about from inside to outside, and in time they and Tolly become good friends. It is only the malevolent presence of the nasty gypsy-cursed tree Green Noah that keeps Tolly from perfect happiness.
When you pick up a book in which a veritable orphan is being sent to live with previously unknown relatives, you usually do not find an idyllic situation. Anne of "Anne of Green Gables" had her problems. So did the Baudelaire orphans of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". Which makes Tolly's story all the more interesting. For quite a while I was convinced that there would be no real conflict at any point. Tolly's days are fun, improving when he comes to know the children better. Reading this book, I was reminded of my own childhood days and the millions of ways kids can find to have fun on their own. When Green Noah makes his appearance in the tale he is a truly odd spectacle. I was delighted to find, however, that when the tree decides to blindly come after Tolly it is a moment of real heart-stopping terror. The writing in this book may strike some as a little pendantic. So I cannot say whole-heartedly that every child will like it. But some will love it, I can tell. L.M. Boston is the kind of author who can write deeply evocative sentences in a children's book and never appear ridiculous for it. I was particularly taken with a passage that read, "In front of him the world was an unbroken dazzling cloud of crystal stars, except for the moat, which looked like a strip of night that had somehow sinned and had no stars in it". The book is full of beautiful lines like this one, yet it retains the interest of the child reader. Kids who like fantasy but find some books a little too scary or nerve wracking might take to "The Children of Greene Knowe" very readily. Any kid who has loved Frances Burnett, Edward Eagar, or E. Nesbit will adore this story. Get `em while they're young and they may even wish to read this book's multiple sequels. It is a charming series.
The very best children's magic
Rating:
5 / 5
I've been spending some time revisiting my youth via children's books, and in trying to piece together titles from fragments of often misremembered storylines, I came upon this book, which I never read as a child but which piqued my interest enough to check it out as an adult. And now how I wish I had visited the magical world of Green Knowe when I was younger! With ghosts and friendly animals, an intact castle home, mysterious statuary, verdant grounds, and even a curse, this story holds so much of what an imaginative young mind grasps for. It is lovely and humane and, what struck me most of all, having so recently read so many other works of juvenile fiction in which the language is merely a vehicle, extremely lyrically written. The language is the real wonder of the book--accessible to young people but so lovely and evocative, and the fact that the language holds its own against a storyline and a created world that is itself so poetic is true testament to the book's magic. Read it as children, read it as adults--just read it!
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