Being a resident of Cornwall, I was drawn to this book because it's partly set in this beautiful county, as well as Plymouth and France. I haven't read any of Hilary McKay's other books (I'm ashamed to say), not even 'Saffy's Angel', for which she won the 2002 Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. But I've heard wonderful things about her stories, so was itching to read this one.
The story follows brother and sister Clarry and Peter, growing up in Plymouth in the early 1900s with their father (their mother died after giving birth to Clarry), and holidaying in Cornwall during the summer holidays with their grandparents and their cousin Rupert. Their father doesn't have a good bond with them, always preferring to sit on his own in his study rather than talking to his children, so Clarry and Peter always desperately look forward to their summer jaunts by the sea. When not in Cornwall during the holidays, Rupert goes to boarding school, and Peter is told he must go too. He is adamantly against this, and takes drastic measures to make sure he doesn't have to go. However, in the long run his plan doesn't have much effect and off he goes. He does make a very close friend while there, Simon, who is also very much in awe of Rupert. While the boys are at boarding school, Clarry battles against the sexism of the time whereby young ladies weren't meant to have ambitions, or want to learn anything other than needlecraft and cookery. She's a strong-willed and independent girl, and stands up to her father to make sure she gets her way. However the First World War is soon upon them, and the rosy dreams of endless summer holidays and laughter is brought to an abrupt end. How will the war affect the children's friendship? And will they all survive it?
McKay is very clever at how she explains the horror and pain of the war in a realistic but not over-dramatic way. After all, her audience is young children aged 9-12, so they need to be told the facts, but not in a way to give them nightmares. It was educational concerning how females were treated at the time, and also about how people rallied around doing their bit for the war effort. I was slightly disappointed that there weren't more descriptive scenes about their surroundings in either Cornwall or Plymouth, the text was more conversational. However, saying that, I enjoyed the book, I loved all the characters (Simon's sister Vanessa was slightly over-enthusiastic for me!), and it was a moving and fast-paced story.
In the summer of 1978, Richard (aged 11) and his family (brothers Nicky, 9, 13-yr-old Tim, 6-yr-old Jem and mum, dad and grandparents) were on holiday near Port Isaac in Cornwall. They decided to go to a nearby beach for a picnic. With the tide coming in, mum decided it was time to pack up and go, but Richard and Nicky wanted one last swim. They ran across rocks to an empty cove and jumped into the sea. Within minutes, with the tide rushing in, they were out of their depth. Richard saw his younger brother struggling to keep his head above the water, and with himself struggling he managed to swim to the beach to get help. That was the last time Richard saw his brother alive. Getting help meant running up the coastal path (about a 15 minute run) to the local farmhouse, where a call was made to the RNLI. Rescuers arrived about 40 mins after Richard left the water. Too late to help Nicky. Within the week, they'd had the funeral (which the boys didn't attend), and were back down to Cornwall finishing their paid-for holiday in the same holiday cottage, and at the same beach. Nicky wasn't spoken of again amongst the family.
This book is Richard's way, now in his early 50s, of coming to terms with the death of his brother, and trying to finally grieve for him. He interviews his family members, trying to find out why they never spoke of Nicky's death, or even of Nicky himself, and he returns to Cornwall to the place where they holidayed, and to the beach itself.
Living in Cornwall myself, I am all too aware of the dangers of the sea and the quick-turning tides, and during the tourist season there are many stories in our local papers of accidents involving holiday-makers getting stranded, or worse, during high tides. What happened to Nicky was indeed tragic, but how the family dealt with the aftermath of his death was just as upsetting. Why are there no photos of Nicky around the house? Why does Richard not know the date Nicky died? Why was he not allowed at the funeral? Why did the father drive them back to Cornwall after the funeral to finish the holiday? Because Richard has never been able to openly grieve for his brother, some of the terms he uses and the way he speaks of his brother come across as very cold. He asks blunts questions of his mother, whether it's because he is unfeeling himself, or whether he is punishing her for how she handled the situation, it's not really clear.
This is an emotional read, and I hope Richard is now finally able to grieve for the brother he wasn't able to save.
Living in Cornwall, I'm surrounded by beautiful beaches and crazy surfers, and I love a story that features that adrenalin-fuelled sport. I've already read and loved Blue by Lisa Glass, a story about surfing set in Newquay, so I was looking forward to reading Kook, also set in Cornwall.
The author, Chris Vick, works for a whale and dolphin conservation charity and is a keen surfer, and that truly comes through in his first novel. The word 'kook' is surfer slang for a learner or a wannabe. In the book, 16 year old Sam is exactly that. He's just moved back to Cornwall with his mum and little sister - they used to live there when he was younger, but his father drowned and his mother couldn't bear to live there with the memories. Now they're back to be near Sam's grandma - she has cancer and may not have long to live. Next door to Sam lives Jade, with her dad. They both go to the same school, so slowly Sam gets to know Jade and her friends - all super keen surfers. Not wanting to be left out, Sam teaches himself to surf, all the while doing research on a giant wave that no-one has yet ridden, called the Devil Horns - a wave that could prove disaster for anyone who attempts it.
I quite enjoyed the book, but unfortunately there were a couple of things which spoiled it for me - the profanity, and the drug use. There was a huge amount of both in this book, and it came across that there was nothing wrong with it. I know teenagers these days use bad language fairly often, but you don't want to have to read it on every page of a book. And as for taking drugs, the characters again did it on such a regular basis, it was made to seem that it was ok to do it.
As a bookseller, I have to be very careful when recommending books to certain ages. Because of the content of Kook, I will have to make sure I don't recommend it to anyone under the age of 15, which surely cuts out a huge audience for the author. I always think it's such a shame that a certain aged-audience may be denied a book purely because of bad language or other bad content. It's not necessary in a story, people don't like hearing it or reading it, so why write it?
The last few chapters were very emotional - weirdly, the chapters I enjoyed the most. If Jade was a bit nicer, and there was less bad content in the book, I may have enjoyed it more.
Simon's done it again - another fast paced, action-packed, thrilling adventure featuring the rather unlucky Lofte family and friends. If I was Itch's parents, I'd tell him to take up a different hobby!
The very unloveable character of Flowerdew rears his (literally) ugly head again, and he's out for revenge - with Itch his main target. Itch has been very lucky so far - he's like a cat with nine lives. But has his luck, and his lives, run out this time? Many heart-stopping and moving moments, as the adventure takes us from Cornwall to South Africa to Madrid.
Even though I enjoyed the book, I found it lacking in some of the really addictive thrilling moments of the first 2 books in the series. The part in Madrid is a little over-long and laborious, but other than that, it's exactly what you'd expect from an Itchingham Lofte adventure!
Blue
by Lisa Glass
Like surfing? Like chilling out on the beach? Like reading about teen summer romance? Well this book is PERFECT for you. Even if you've never surfed in your life, I promise you that after reading this book you will be itching to give it a go. It's set on Fistral Beach in Newquay, Cornwall (a beautiful part of the world - but I'm biased because I live there myself!) and follows 16 year-old Iris who meets Zeke at a yoga class. Iris isn't aware that Zeke is actually a champion surfer, but as she starts to fall for him she wonders whether the relationship is for real, whether she is just 'one of the many', and how the relationship would last when Zeke has to travel round the world taking part in competitions.
Iris has to confront family crises, jealousy, cheating, and horrific accidents - all in the name of love. But a final tragedy could upset all her dreams...
This book is full of surf lingo and slang, and you really get to understand how competitive surfing is amongst those who take it seriously. There are so many rules about the waves and who can ride them - I never realised! One thing's for sure - if ever I want to take up surfing (I'm just a lowly bodyboarder) I now know to make sure I have a proper surf instructor teaching me!
A great book which makes you want to dash to the beach and jump into the waves. A perfect summer read. It's the first in a series - the next 'Air' is out June 2015.
Midnight Pirates
by Ally Kennen
Gosh, what a lot of action in this book - jam packed! At first, I thought there was TOO much, it jumped around a bit too much, but it soon settles down into a good adventure. On the plus side too, it's set in Cornwall, so I could put a few towns in the map and knew whereabouts the author was setting the story.
Miranda and her brothers Jackie and Cal (cool surfer dude, with great surf-talk which makes you giggle) live in a hotel which is owned and run by their parents. The hotel is right on a cliff overlooking the beach and the kids just love it. However, the parents run into financial difficulties and have to put the hotel up for sale. They take a break abroad and send the kids to a boarding school for a few weeks while they're away. The kids never make it to the school - they run back to the hotel, phone the agents to tell them the house is off the market, and start to take in holiday-makers to keep the money coming in. Unbeknownst to them, some of the tourists are not who they seem and trouble is lurking on their own doorstep.
A great adventure for 9+. If you like Cornwall based adventure stories, then try Itch by Simon Mayo, Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John, The Whistling Caves by Helen Moss, North of Nowhere by Liz Kessler and Fritha's Summer by Susan Morris.
Itch
by Simon Mayo
Itchingham loves chemistry and has an unusual collection of all the table of elements - well, nearly all of them. He keeps them in shoeboxes under his bed. He gets some items from a local dealer called Cake. One of the items (arsenic) which he secretly takes into school makes the whole class sick, resulting in the school greenhouse being closed down. Another item he buys off Cake has far deadlier consequences, and Itch finds himself the centre of unwanted attention from the police and some rather unsavoury characters across the world. How can he get rid of this deadly element that is causing such devastation?
A brilliant book for 11+ set in Cornwall. Just released is the sequel Itch Rocks. Check out my review!
Itch Rocks
by Simon Mayo
Wow! This was even better than the first, Itch! The adventures and thrills just kept on coming - a 400 page rollercoaster ride! You feel sorry for poor Itch having to go through so much terror - and pain! Loads more chemistry lessons, which is good for me as I was hopeless at it as a schoolchild. Such an original storyline for this series, I think that's why I enjoy it so much - no dystopia, no wizards, no vampires!
In this second instalment (and surely not the last?!) we find Itch, Chloe and Jack under close protection provided by MI5. Itch had buried Element 126 down a well under an old school in Brighton, but there are bad people around who are desperate to know its whereabouts - desperate enough to kidnap or even kill. The return of a couple of salubrious characters, and a moment's worth of slackness in MI5 protection, mean Itch and the gang find themselves yet again in mortal danger.
