February 7, 2019 The Real Enid Blyton by Nadia Cohen Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long When I was a little girl I used to receive the latest Famous Five book by Enid Blyton every Christmas….
March 15, 2018 Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan Review by Liz Dexter This is a truly delightful book which is a MUST if you’re a 35-55 year old British person and a…
December 5, 2017 A History of Children’s Books in 100 Books by Roderick Cave and Sarah Ayad Reviewed by Harriet Earlier this year I reviewed Martin Edwards’ Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, and very good it was too. So…
August 8, 2016 The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson by Selma Lagerlöf Translated by Paul Norlén Reviewed by Annabel We don’t feature many children’s books here at Shiny, but occasionally new editions of much-loved childhood favourites…
October 15, 2015 The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Stories, by Joan Aiken Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess For over sixty years – starting about age sixteen and continuing right up until her death in 2004 –…
July 21, 2015 Seacrow Island, and Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess If you’ve been lucky enough to spend summers as a child in a special place, you know that they…
April 10, 2015 The Youngest Lady in Waiting by Mara Kay Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long In Mara Kay’s first book, Masha, we followed the adventures of Masha Fredericks as she travelled to St Petersburg from her…
April 3, 2015 Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders Reviewed by Harriet I hope some children today still read E. Nesbit as avidly as I did, and my own children did. I loved…
October 31, 2014 The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long The Lost Prince is not one of Burnett’s well known titles. The Little Princess and The Secret Garden are those that spring to mind when…
October 30, 2014 The Hawk & Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch Reviewed by Jodie Robson Over the last few weeks I’ve been rediscovering an almost forgotten aspect of childhood in the company of two very…
October 29, 2014 The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley Reviewed by Harriet Devine I think I must have been about seven or eight when I was given this book for Christmas. I doubt…
July 15, 2014 Mistress Masham’s Repose by T. H. White Reviewed by Jodie Robson “It was a glorious day in June – for that matter it was the Glorious First of June – and…
April 23, 2014 The Runaways by Elizabeth Goudge Reviewed by Rachel Fenn Hesperus Press, known for their very attractive reprints of minor works by major authors, has recently launched a new arm…
April 18, 2014 Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter Reviewed by Jodie One of the children’s classics I didn’t read when I was a child was Pollyanna. It had been described to me as a story…
April 17, 2014 Why you should read The Runaways, by Adrienne Byrne Winner of the Hesperus ‘Uncover a Children’s Classic Competition’, 2013 I was about ten when I discovered this book in my local library. It…
