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Winter Term At Malory Towers by Pamela Cox

Sep18

Kindness & Friendship

Winter Term At Malory Towers by Pamela Cox is another marvellous book for girls aged eight years and over. It is the ninth book in the Malory Towers series. Whilst it can be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading the books in numerical order for continuity of that tales. Each book begins where the previous one left off.

The Malory Towers series was first penned in the 1940’s by Enid Blyton. Pamela Cox has made the seamless transition as she writes in the same style as the originals.

We rejoin Felicity Rivers as she enters the autumn term in the fourth year (year 10). The girls are tasked with producing a play for Christmas.

Two new girls start the year. They are very different personalities. We witness tension, clashes and misunderstandings.

I absolutely love the Malory Towers series, possibly even more than I did when I first discovered then fifty years ago. The original six books were a constant companion in my early teens.

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Five Go Down To The Sea by Enid Blyton

Sep18

Entertaining

Five Go Down To The Sea by Enid Blyton is a marvellous children’s adventure book that entertains from the start. It is the twelfth book in the Famous Five series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The famous five have been amusing children since they were first penned in the 1940’s. The adventures have a timeless appeal. Only the lack of technology, vehicles and the freedom that the children have to roam, dates the books.

Once more the children stumble into an adventure as we join them as they holiday on the rugged Cornish coast.

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My Guardian Dear by Brittany Druker

Sep8

Belief & Prayer

My Guardian Dear by Brittany Druker is a wonderful little book for children aged 4 – 10 years-old. It is a book that is full of faith and hope as it talks about our guardian angel always being with us.

We learn that “Angels help anyone who asks for relief.” Our guardian angel is literally just a prayer away. Whether we can ‘see’ our guardian angel or not, he is always with us as we walk through life.

If it concerns us, it concerns our guardian angel. The little lad in the book prays for help at his ball game.

The whole book is very colourful as it is simply but powerfully illustrated by Justin Dunn.

My Guardian Dear will appeal to young children with its’ colourful pages and its’ simple, yet profound message.

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Kringle’s Return by Jemma Hatt

Aug31

Never Stop Believing

Kringle’s Return by Jemma Hatt is a wonderful book for those aged eight years and over. It is the second book in the Kringle’s Emporium series but can be read as a stand-alone. I recommend reading book one first for maximum enjoyment and continuity of story. Though the tale is set at Christmas, it can be enjoyed at any time of year.

Once more, the reader meets up with familiar faces, as the children are again, called upon to save Christmas. Faces and objects help them as we ‘travel’ to New York City and India in search of missing objects. I am particularly fond of the character of Andre in his yellow New York taxi.

Some of the characters experience bullying. Bullying is not always throwing punches. Words thrown can wound too. In order to resist the barbs, one needs to feel comfortable in one’s own skin. “Why would I change what makes me happy because it doesn’t fit in with people I don’t even like?”

Kindness is the most important thing. Kindness makes the world go round. “Kindness is truly contagious… It only takes one person to start an avalanche.” Be contagious – spread kindness wherever you go.

Sometimes we feel pain, hurt and even guilt when we really shouldn’t. “We can only take responsibility for our own actions, not those of others. You can’t control when people let you down, only how you respond to it.” Everyone must own their own choices. Trying to get into the minds of others is futile.

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