Playing Beatie Bow
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Our cover picture, by Aliki, is taken from How a Book is Made (0 370 31003 9, £6.95). We are grateful for help from the Bodley Head in using this illustration.
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This 1981 Australian Children's Books Award winner is both historical and contemporary. Abigail at 14, still numbed by a sense of betrayal (her father left when she was 10), is appalled by her mother's decision to live with him again. She time-slips to 1873, is cared for by Orkney immigrants, now New South Welshmen, -- trapped too, since she's the stranger who will ensure that the family gift survives. Victorian Sydney is made wonderfully vivid. Its squalor and its humanity astound Abigail. She, the other characters and their stories are compelling and convincing. I enjoyed the book enormously and had a good sniffle at the end when past and present connect. Recommend it to 12-ups. Consider reading it with 3rd/4th years.