Plot summary

It is 1842 and Maria Merryweather, a thirteen-year-old orphan, is on a journey to the mysterious Moonacre Manor somewhere in the west of England, accompanied by her governess Miss Heliotrope and dog Wiggins. There she finds herself in a world out of time. Maria meets her cousin, Sir Benjamin Merryweather, one of the “sun” Merryweathers, and finds that she loves him right away – the “sun” and the “moon” Merryweathers always take to each other – for a while. Maria discovers that there is an ancient story around founding of the estate that will have a great effect on her future….
Although she is aided by a stable of wonderful characters and magical beasts (including the unicorn of the title), it is only by self-sacrifice and perseverance that she will be able to succeed in bringing wholeness back to Moonacre. And of course, with a pinch of magic, Maria is able to save Moonacre, right the wrongs, reunite lost loves and finally bring peace to the valley, and there is the happiest of happy endings.
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He has also created a version of the Stone soup fable set in China..

Children’s books

• Gershon’s Monster
• The Three Questions
• Zen Shorts
• Zen Ties
• Old Turtle and the Broken Truth
• Come On, Rain
• The Stone Soup
• Me, Johnn

[source]

 Plot summary

The story takes place in New England, United States. Nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon and thirteen-year-old Mallory have moved to the decrepit Spiderwick Estate with their mother, Helen.

At first Jared hears strange noises in the walls but thinks it’s a squirrel. While in bed later that night he hears it again. Mallory comes and tells them to go with her to find out what the noise is. So Jared, Simon, and Mallory go downstairs to the kitchen and begin to investigate. After a short moment Mallory breaks out a chunk in the wall, and they find the nest of a strange creature. Then after they hear the scratching move upstairs, Jared goes up in the dumbwaiter to find out more. He finds himself in a room with no door. It is a secret library.

He climbs up to a room at the very top of the house and finds a chest. In a secret compartment; inside it, there is a package. Jared unwraps it to find a book called “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You”. It is full of information on faeries.

Jared discovers that the scratching and the incident with Mallory’s hair was caused by a boggart, or a brownie turned bad. He attempts to convince his mother that he isn’t the culprit, but gets into even more trouble.

He then realizes that the boggart is angry because he messed up the creature’s nest. He gathers up all the lost things from the nest and puts them in a bird house, and a note saying sorry.

Several days later, while Jared, Simon and Mallory are in Uncle Arthur’s study, a small man with a hat appears. The little man is in fact the boggart that had been causing them all the trouble, and we find out in later in the book that his name is Thimbletack. He commands them to throw away the Field Guide or suffer a terrible fate.

[source]

 Plot summary

Laura Sibbie, a sixth-grader, is the most popular girl in her class. She is famous for her brown waist-length hair. When she was four, she told a lie. Her father told her the story of George Washington and the cherry tree and told her that she wouldn’t have to get her hair cut unless she told another lie. Laura hopes to become the first female president of the United States and takes pride in having never told a lie. However, she frequently stretches the truth without technically lying, and this habit eventually gets her into trouble.

Laura finds a hat at a garage sale. The hat says “Pig City” on the front. When she and her friends decide to form a club, they name it “Pig City” after the hat. Laura is the president of the club. They invent a secret salute, bringing a fist to the nose to resemble a pig’s snout. Each person joining the club has to provide “insurance” in the form of an embarrassing item, to ensure that they will keep the club a secret. Laura’s insurance is a note she wrote confessing her love for their teacher.

One of Laura’s classmates, Gabriel, has a crush on Laura and writes her a note asking about Pig City. The note is changed and ruined by Sheila, who is jealous of Laura , and Laura receives a note in which Gabriel demands to kiss her. Laura invites Gabriel to her house to decide whether she should kiss him or not. However, they argue and Gabriel storms out. He then forms a competing club, Monkey Town.

Laura suffered the days after her fight with Gabriel, and stopped eating, sleeping, and being herself. Though her parents engaged in all sorts of antics, nothing they could do would cheer her up.

As the clubs fight, members of each club sneak into the classroom at the beginning of the day to write insulting messages about each other on the blackboard. They also play pranks on each other. Students in their class are punished by having to copy pages out of the dictionary by hand. Their teacher becomes frustrated with the pranks and threatens the pranksters with one dictionary page for every day that the insults appear on the blackboard.

Laura is finally tricked by another student into revealing her involvement with Pig City. She earns the punishment of copying 17 dictionary pages, but also the admiration of her fellow “citizens” until Gabriel, having raided the Pig City clubhouse, arrives brandishing all the embarrassing items they had left for insurance. They all are very upset with Laura. Sheila, who is now a member of Monkey Town, suggests that they get revenge on Laura by cutting her hair. Most of the Monkey Town club members don’t like the idea, but she and a friend, Howard, corner Laura on her way home from school and cut a large chunk out of her hair and leave a note signed by Gabriel, framing him for the crime. It is the worst day of Laura’s life.

The next morning before school, Sheila and Howard brag to Gabriel about what they did to Laura, how they framed Gabriel and how Sheila had changed his note that had started the whole club rivalry. Gabriel, suddenly realizing how foolish he has been by not believing Laura, is overcome with anger. He slugs both Howard and Sheila, who are suspended the last week of school for attacking Laura.

Laura has to get a new, short, curly hair style that she says makes her look like a French poodle. Gabriel, arriving with daisies, thinks she looks like a movie star. He apologizes for everything he has done, for calling Laura a liar and confesses that he really just wanted her to like him. They both agree to no more pranks, and Laura tells Gabriel that he has to eat a raw egg as punishment, since that was what Gabriel did to her.

Laura is reconciled with Gabriel, and her friends rally around her again. All the friends and former enemies have a big dictionary copying party. Knowing what she has gone through the last few days, Mr. Doyle is surprised when Laura turns in all the copied pages on the last day of school, and he honors her by giving her the Pig City salute.

 Characters in Sixth Grade Secrets

• Laura Sibbie – hero, fan of George Washington, natural leader, founder of “Pig City“, has a clubhouse nicknamed the “Dog House” in her backyard that becomes club headquarters. She matures a lot the last few weeks of sixth grade. Pig City insurance: Love letter to Mr Doyle.
• Allison – co-founder of Pig City, always clean and neat, fond of Aaron. Pig City insurance: photograph naked in bathtub at age 3.
• Tiffany – co-founder of Pig City, always unkempt, fond of Nathan, first of the trio to be kissed by a boy. Pig City insurance: Prank newspaper article from uncle that claims she is ticklish and that she is sloppy with spaghetti.
• Gabriel – has copied more dictionary pages than anyone else in class; always in trouble but never tells on anyone; has crush on Laura, plan to get Laura to tell him about Pig City backfires, forms rival club “Monkey Town.” Planned Pig City insurance: to be photographed wearing a dress.
• Kristin – has a small face but wears big glasses that make her look cute and everyone thinks she is studious. Pig City insurance: underpants.
• Debbie – hangs upside down to get blood flowing to her brain. Pig City insurance: recorded phone call professing love to Howard.
• Nathan – uses amusing speech expressions (”okee-doke-do!”), first to kiss Tiffany. Pig City insurance: Hate letter to Mr. Doyle.
• Aaron – always well dressed because his grandmother picks his clothes, good singing voice. Pig City insurance: recorded singing “I am such a stupid jerk…”
• Karen – easy going and very talkative, Yolanda’s best friend. Never invited to join Pig City, joins “Monkey Town” instead.
• Yolanda – very pretty but shy, never talks much, fond of Jonathan, Karen’s best friend. Only Pig City member to be removed because of breaking the secrecy rule, joins “Monkey Town” then leaves for Jonathan’s club “Eagle’s Nest” after club splits. Pig City insurance: Love note to Jonathan.
• Jonathan – smart, athletic, handsome, conceited, begins relationship with Yolanda after discovering the love note. Joins “Monkey Town” but splits with Gabriel after Laura’s successful division ploy, forms “Eagle’s Nest” with Yolanda.
• Sheila – has frizzy hair, extremely jealous of Laura and her long hair, motivated by revenge and capable of vicious pranks, joins “Monkey Town.“
• Howard – seeks friendship by agreeing with everyone, but ends up alienating everyone. Kicked out of “Monkey Town” club, rejected by both “Eagle’s Nest” and “Pig City” as unworthy. Becomes pawn of Sheila to help with attack on Laura.
• Linzy – teacher’s pet. Never joins a club.
• Mr. Doyle – Laura’s sixth grade teacher, well-respected by most, especially Laura; admonitions to his class usually include the phrase “a word to the wise.”
• Mr. and Mrs. Sibbie – Laura’s parents
• Dan, Sue, and Rebecca – Laura’s eldest brother, his wife and five year old daughter.

 [source]

Doctor Dolittle first saw light in the author’s illustrated letters to children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England, where Doctor John Dolittle lives in the fictional village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country.

Doctor Dolittle has a few close human friends, including Matthew Mugg, the Cat’s-Meat Man. The animal team includes Polynesia (a parrot), Gub-Gub (a pig), Jip (a dog), Dab-Dab (a duck), Chee-Chee (a monkey), Too-Too (an owl), and the Pushmi-pullyu.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920) began the series. The sequel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) won the prestigious Newbery Medal. The next three, Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office, (1923), Doctor Dolittle’s Circus (1924) and Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan (1926) are all actually prequels (or “midquels”, as they take place during the events of The Story of Doctor Dolittle). Five more followed, and after Lofting’s death two more volumes, composed of short unpublished pieces, appeared.

The books, in order of publication, are:

1. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920)
2. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)
3. Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office (1923)
4. Doctor Dolittle’s Circus (1924)
5. Doctor Dolittle’s Zoo (1925)
6. Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan (1926)
7. Doctor Dolittle’s Garden (1927)
8. Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928)
9. Doctor Dolittle’s Return (1933)
10. Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948)
11. Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950)
12. Doctor Dolittle’s Puddleby Adventures (1952)

Gub-Gub’s Book, An Encyclopaedia of Food (1932) was an associated book, purportedly written by the eponymous pig.

Doctor Dolittle’s Birthday Book (1936) was a piece of merchandise produced during the gap between Doctor Dolittle’s Return and Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake.

 Bowdlerisation

The books have been accused of racism, due to the usage of derogatory terms for and depiction of certain ethnic groups therein, both written and illustrated. Editions in the United States sometimes had alterations made from the 1960s, but the books went out-of-print in the 1970s. In the United Kingdom, the unexpurgated books went out of print in 1981.

In 1986, to mark the centenary of Lofting’s birth, new editions were published which had such passages rewritten or removed (sometimes called bowdlerisation). Offending illustrations were either removed (and replaced with unpublished Lofting originals) or altered.

It is fair to note that the black characters in the book are not depicted speaking in Pidgin English, and any derogatory references are slight and passing.

 Pushmi-pullyu

The pushmi-pullyu (pronounced “push-me-pull-you”) is a fictional creature in the Doctor Dolittle stories. It is an antelope which has two heads at opposite ends of the body. When it tries to move, both heads try to go in opposite directions.

In the 1967 film, the pushmi-pullyu was instead portrayed as a double-headed llama. The more recent Eddie Murphy film has a brief scene where it is walking in the background while Dr. Dolittle talks to the tiger in the cage. This is in keeping with the fact that this movie version was only loosely based on the books.

BBC News 09/19/07 “A children’s story character – the Pushmi-pullyu – says hello to a donkey at an enclosure at Spitalfields City Farm in east London before it sets off on tour with a new musical production of Doctor Dolittle.”

Doctor Dolittle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Chronicles of Narnia present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. Each of the books (with the exception of The Horse and His Boy) features as its protagonists children from our world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon to help the lion Aslan right some wrong.

  The seven books

• 1.1 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
• 1.2 Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
• 1.3 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
• 1.4 The Silver Chair (1953)
• 1.5 The Horse and His Boy (1954)
• 1.6 The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
• 1.7 The Last Battle (1956)

The Chronicles of Narnia have been in continuous publication since 1954 and have sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages (Kelly 2006) (Guthmann 2005). Lewis was awarded the 1956 Carnegie Medal for The Last Battle, the final book in the Narnia series. The books were written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954 but were not written entirely in either the order they were originally published or in the chronological order in which they are currently presented (Ford 2005). The original illustrator was Pauline Baynes and her simple pen and ink drawings are still used in publication today. The seven books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia are presented here in the order in which they were originally published (see reading order below). Completion dates for the novels are English (Northern Hemisphere) seasons.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)

Main article: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, completed in the spring of 1950 (Ford 2005) and published in 1950, tells the story of four ordinary children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie. They discover that the wardrobe in an old professor’s house leads to the magical land of Narnia, currently under the spell of a witch. The children fulfill an ancient, mysterious prophecy as they help Aslan save Narnia from the evil White Witch who has reigned over the kingdom of Narnia for a hundred years.

 Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)

Main article: Prince Caspian

Completed in the autumn of 1950 and published in 1951, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia tells the story of the Pevensie children’s second trip to Narnia, during which they discover that an evil king has usurped the throne. Once again, they set out to save Narnia, this time with the help of the rightful ruler, Prince Caspian.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

Main article: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Completed in the winter of 1950 and published in 1952, The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ returns Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their priggish cousin, Eustace Scrubb, to Narnia. Once there, they accompany King Caspian on a voyage to find the seven lords who were banished when Miraz took over the throne. This perilous journey brings them face to face with many wonders and dangers as they sail toward Aslan’s country at the end of the world.

The Silver Chair (1953)

Main article: The Silver Chair

Completed in the spring of 1951 and published in 1953, The Silver Chair is the first book without the Pevensie children. Instead, Aslan calls Eustace back to Narnia together with his classmate Jill Pole. There they are given four clues to find Prince Rilian, Caspian’s son, who had been kidnapped ten years earlier. Eustace and Jill, with the help of Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle and many others, face great danger before finding Rilian.

The Horse and His Boy (1954)

Main article: The Horse and His Boy

Completed in the spring of 1950 and published in 1954, The Horse and His Boy is the first of the books that does not follow the previous one sequentially; instead, it takes place during the reign of the Pevensies in Narnia, an era which begins and ends in the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The story is about Bree, a talking horse, and Shasta, a young boy, who have both been held (albeit separately) in bondage in Calormen, a country to the south of Narnia. By chance, they meet each other and plan their return to Narnia and freedom. On their journey they discover that the Calormenes are about to invade Archenland, and they plan to arrive there first to alert the King.

 The Magician’s Nephew (1955)

Main article: The Magician’s Nephew

Completed in the winter of 1954 and published in 1955, the prequel The Magician’s Nephew brings the reader back to the very beginning of Narnia where we learn how Aslan created the world and how evil first entered it. Another group of people from Earth stumble into Narnia via an entirely different route. Many long-standing questions about Narnia are answered, such as how inter-world travel was made possible, how a lampost came to be in a woodland and where the wardrobe came from.

The Last Battle (1956)

Main article: The Last Battle

Completed in the spring of 1953 and published in 1956, The Last Battle chronicles the end of the world of Narnia. Jill and Eustace return to save Narnia from Shift, an ape, who tricks Puzzle, a donkey, into impersonating the lion Aslan. In this book, it is revealed what Aslan’s country really is.

The Chronicles of Narnia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia