Vishy’s Blog

I’d never heard of Diana Wynne Jones when I was a kid. I heard of her only when I started reviewing books. Then I read her book ‘Dogsbody‘ and I loved that. Many Diana Wynne Jones fans regard ‘Fire and Hemlock‘ as her finest work. So I thought I’ll read it now. The story told […]

My exploration of children’s literature which I couldn’t read as a child continues. I’ve wanted to read Michelle Magorian’s classic novel, ‘Goodnight Mister Tom‘ for a long time. A few days back, I picked it up. It is the start of the Second World War. Children living in London are evacuated to the countryside to […]

My exploration of children’s literature which I couldn’t read as a child continues. Yesterday, I decided to pick up ‘The Kingdom by the Sea‘ by Robert Westall. The story is set in England during the Second World War. Harry lives with his parents and his younger sister. Every day the Germans send bombers and they […]

After reading two Eva Ibbotson books, I decided to read a third one, ‘The Secret of Platform 13‘. I’ll just reproduce the brief description of the story from the back cover of the book. I think I can’t improve on it. “Under Platform 13 at Kings Cross Station there is a secret door that leads […]

After reading ‘The Star of Kazan‘, I thought I’ll pick up another Eva Ibbotson book, ‘Journey to the River Sea‘. Maia is an orphan. Both her parents have passed away. But they’ve left her a good inheritance and so her life is comfortable. She is in boarding school but when the holidays arrive, she doesn’t […]