Having absolutely loved The Star of Kazan, I was definitely primed for Eva Ibbotson’s The Dragonfly Pool. And I enjoyed it a lot. It seemed like a very old-fashioned book, in a lot of ways, with a good deal of Emil and the Detectives in it. In fact, now that I look at the note, The Star of Kazan reminded me of Emil as well. Hm. Anyway, the main characters are kids, pre-teens I suppose mostly, and off they go on an adventure, with travel and Nazis and friendly strangers and meeting other children who co-operate with them because they are all in it together, aren’t they?
And in addition to that, Ms. Ibbotson is terrific at adults. There are good adults, bad adults, buffoonish adults, scary adults (but not too scary), quirky adults, and adults who are good in one way but bad in another. Now that I think about it, the differentiation amongst the two groups (kids and adults, I mean, not English and Nazi, because really, when you get down to it, what’s the important thing?) is her remarkable achievement. Well, along with that old-fashioned sort of sparkle, a… I don’t think coziness is exactly the right word, but whatever that word is, it has something of familiarity and comfort in it, something of tradition and a sense of a place within it, but nothing of must or fust.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
what kind of book report is this? even a baby can do better than this, it doesnt even tell me what it is about!!!