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Title: The Children of Green Knowe by L. M. Boston, Peter Boston, Lucy Maria Boston ISBN: 0-15-217151-7 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 01 August, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.94 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: For Anyone Who Wants to Explore An Old English House
Comment: Reading this book was a strange experience for me, as even though I had never read it before in my life, it evoked a strange sense of familiarity that only the very best books, movies and music are able to achieve. Usually these are reserved for the ones that are experienced in childhood and carried through into adulthood, but every now and then one arrives that touch one on so deep a level that one feels they've always known them. "The Children of Green Knowe" is one such book.
This is the perfect book for anyone that has a love of old homes, and especially for those who have very little chances of exploring them, much less living in them. Since Lucy Boston wrote the Green Knowe series based on her own house and garden that was built nearly nine hundred years ago, the descriptions of the house and grounds are painstakingly created and thus utterly realistic. As her young protagonist explores them, so too does the reader, and her poetic imagery concerning all the marvels that he finds are vivid, mysterious and beautiful all at once.
The story itself is slow and dreamlike; it can hardly be called a story, rather it is better described as the record of a young boy and his semi-magical experiences throughout his winter at Green Knowe. Seven year old Toseland is sent to live with his great-grandmother during the school break whilst his parents are in Burma, and despite some initial fears concerning Mrs Oldknow and her strange existence in the flooded waters of the property, Toseland (or "Tolly" as she calls him) soon finds himself quite at home among the welcoming atmosphere of the house, the variety of friendly animals, and the myraid of interesting relics to be found. Outside, the wintery landscape goes through many changes, from a flooded lake to snow-covered hillocks, all watched over by the statue of St Christopher against the wall.
But there are other components at work that Mrs Oldknow and her manservant Boggis seem reluctant to talk about - the spirits of children that lived in the house over three hundred years ago still seem to be dwelling within the house: Alexander, Toby and Linnet. Tolly is eagar to get to know them, especially if it means seeing Toby's old horse Feste, and through several designs of his own, Tolly just might get his wish. The visitations with the "ghosts" come across as perfectly natural and not at all sinister, through there is just the right amount of mystery about them that keeps the normality of the house just forever verging on the magical.
In fact, for me personally, there was a little bit of a shock in store. The reason I liked this book so much was because it reminded me of my own little hobby (that I'm sure others share) of creating dream-homes to live in, complete with their own names. The name given to my own imaginary house is Joyous Gard (after Lancelot's castle), and I almost got goosebumps when Mrs Oldknow recounts the story of Alexander exploring the old church and deciding to call it Joyous Gard! How spooky is that?
Throughout the book, Lucy Boston's Catholicism is made clear, through her use of St Christopher and the descriptions of finely decorated cathedrals as opposed to the less-elabourate Protestant churches, and so with Catholic favour comes the barest touch of Paganism that (probably unintentionally) lies behind the animal hedge-sculptures that seem to come to life, the ghostly occurances and the personification of inanimate objects. There is even a touch of the sinister in Green Noah, the evil humped tree that lies as a curse upon the family...
For anyone who likes dreamy, meandering stories but have no idea where to find them, look no further than "The Children of Green Knowe". There's enough charm and mystery for any child or adult who long for such a place to live in, and Mrs Oldknow's stories-within-the-story, Tolly's wonderment at his home, and the many strange events that happen make this a hidden gem in children's literature.
Rating: 5
Summary: While you wait for the next Harry Potter
Comment: I'd never heard of the Green Knowe books until I recently picked this one up. Too bad, this is a story I would have loved to have someone read to me when I was a kid and which I look forward to reading to my own kids. It is the magical, mysterious tale of young Master Toseland, who goes to spend the Christmas holiday with his great-grandmother Mrs. Oldknow at the family estate of Green Noah. Arriving by train, he finds the grounds flooded and the groundskeeper, Mr. Boggis, must pick him up in a rowboat to carry him to the house. It gradually becomes apparent that the house is temporally as well as physically isolated. First through overheard giggles and then by shadowy glimpses, it is revealed to Tolly (as Mrs. Oldknow calls him) that the house is inhabited by the spirits of children from generations long passed. In particular, Toby, Linnet and Alexander, three siblings felled by the plague hundreds of years earlier, romp about the building and grounds. Mrs Oldknow, who is well aware of the phenomena, tells Tolly stories about the children and the history of the manor, including a gypsy curse that was placed on a creepy topiary of Noah, which is how the place (originally Green Knowe) got its name.
Lucy Boston was inspired to write these books--this is the first in a series of eight--after restoring the Manor House at Hemingford Grey, which dates to the year 1130. The restoration process discovered all kinds of hidden fireplaces and windows and other reminders of the house's ancient past. This apparently awakened in her a sense of history on a human scale and reminded her of how easily we ignore such things. She set out to help others recall this sense of wonder:
I would like to remind adults of joy, now obsolete, and I would like to encourage children to use and trust their senses for themselves at first hand--their ears, eyes and noses, their fingers and soles of their feet, their skins and their breathing, their muscular joy and rhythms and heartbeats, their instinctive loves and pity and awe of the unknown.
She succeeded brilliantly. This enchanting book is suffused with an aura magic and a real spirit of joy.
GRADE: A
Rating: 5
Summary: Green grow the rushes oh
Comment: 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.
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Title: Treasure of Green Knowe by L. M. Boston, Brett Helquist, Peter Boston ISBN: 0152026010 Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: The River at Green Knowe by L. M. Boston, Peter Boston, Brett Helquist ISBN: 015202607X Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: A Stranger at Green Knowe by L. M. Boston, Peter Boston, Brett Helquist ISBN: 0152025898 Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: An Enemy at Green Knowe by L. M. Boston, Peter Boston, Brett Helquist ISBN: 0152024816 Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: The Diamond in the Window (The Hall Family Chronicles) by Jane Langton ISBN: 0064400425 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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