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Into the Woods
By Lyn Gardner
David Fickling Books £
12.99
438 pages
Dateline: 21st September, 2006
Lyn Gardner is well known as a Guardian theatre critic but may not
be for much longer. Her debut novel, aimed at 9-11 year-olds, is so
well-written that soon she could become next JK Rowling or Frank L Baum
and be forced to forsake journalism for children's literature.
Into the Woods is a title that should immediately strike a chord
with theatre aficionados since it has already been used by Stephen Sondheim
for a musical that apparently provided inspiration for Miss Gardner.
This version is a contemporary fairy tale that doesn't compromise in
its use of sophisticated language and demonstrates the author's delight
in words, both for sound and meaning. That means that some nine-year-olds
might find their vocabularies challenged and extended, which is no bad
thing. Indeed on occasion, adults might have a similar, delightful learning
experience.
If that sounds serious, it belies the lightness and page-turning excitement
of the plot in which three little girls are pitted against the most
evil of baddies, after their lazy mother dies and their feckless father
disappears.
Storm Eden is a tomboy in the best traditions of schoolgirl novels
and though she is younger than her sister Aurora, she is both cannier
and more courageous. Big sister beats her hands-down though at cooking
and tidying.
The real oddity is little sister Anything, Any for short. Though not
even a toddler when she is forced to flee her home with her older sisters,
it transpires that she has been able to speak very intelligently from
birth, even though she cannot yet walk. She also has a reading age of
around 35.
The girls' adventures are real hair-raising stuff as they fight against
the chilling Dr deWilde (loosely named after Oscar?) and his ravaging
pack of wolves.
Some of the stories may sound familiar as, very deliberately, the writer
has drawn on elements of traditional fairy tales such as Hansel and
Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel with the over-arching
plot borrowed from The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
The chapter titles are well chosen and often amusing. Top of the bill
without doubt is "Jelly Babies of Doom", which might well
be stolen by a rock band at some point in the future.
It is hard to keep a good theatre critic down and Lyn Gardner offers
buffs a chance to play the game of discovering references sprinkled
through the text. In addition to the allusions to Oscar Wilde and Stephen
Sondheim, Beckett's Winnie and Willie provide a signpost and some Shakespearian
chickens called Desdemona and Othello cluck around. If you buy a copy,
you might well discover more!
The author works subtly to ensure that her heroines are governed by
a true morality and, in addition, younger readers may get some lessons
that will give help them towards a more philosophical view of life.
This fairy tale is charmingly and wittily illustrated by Mini Grey,
whose style is reminiscent of that best of book illustrators Quentin
Blake, without quite so much of the spikiness.
It is not easy to put Into the Woods down once you start it
and this is an adult critic reviewing it. Children will be thrilled
and chilled, as well as laughing out loud at times. If they find it
in their Christmas stocking, they may well not resurface until Boxing
Day. What better recommendation could there be?
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