At the start of the summer, in celebration of getting a hammock for my birthday, I decided to dedicate this summer to reading adventure stories of all kinds, and for once I actually did what I set out to do! Since June I've read 6 amazing books each of which contain adventure in their own way, and started another two which I haven't quite finished yet. Most of my picks were coincidentally published by indies, but I'm going to tell you about all of them regardless! (Titles link to our Bookshop.org affiliate shop, and if you purchase books there both ourselves and an indie bookshop receive a small commission)
I started off by succumbing to peer pressure and finally picking up The Explorer by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury), which Rhys has been urging me to read for literally years (see his review of it on our Youtube channel here) and he was absolutely right, I definitely should have read it sooner. It's about four children who end up along in the Amazon rainforest when their small plane crashes. They have to band together despite their differences and use the skills they have to try to survive. The story is incredibly beautifully written, and I'm actually making some embroidered word art out of a quote from it because I thought it was so beautiful. Highly recommend this one for kids and adults!
My second adventure read was also a book I'd bought for Rhys although he's yet to read it. Sky Song by Abi Elphinstone is the total opposite of The Explorer in terms of setting, as it takes place in the snowy kingdom of Erkenwald, where an ice queen reigns and is trying to steal the voices of her people. When Eska escapes from her castle, with help from Finn, she has to try to regain her memories and find out what the ice queen is trying to do before it's too late. The world building in Sky Song was particularly compelling, and I thought it was particularly interesting that most of the characters are children (because the adults have been captured by the ice queen) as it's a really good look at the ways that children inherit their parents attitudes and distrust.
I finally read the third book by Elle McNicoll, (we included her first amazing book A Kind of Spark in March
2020's box). Like a Charm (Knights Of) is a bit of a departure from her previous two books, as it's firmly in the realms of fantasy. The protagonist, Ramya, has always known she was different but after her grandfather dies she begins to learn just how different she is, and starts to explore the hidden city beneath the Edinburgh she thought she knew. This is I think the first children's book with a dyspraxic character who's actually described as being dyspraxic, and I found, as always, that Elle McNicoll's description of the experience neurodiverse children can have in school was really real. Through the book Ramya struggles with people who don't understand the way she experiences the world, communication difficulties with her parents and with rifts within her family caused by magical elements she begins to understand as the story progresses. This is a gorgeous book full of magic and feeling and I loved it.
I've been on a re-read of the Swallows and Amazons series since I started blogging pretty much, and I picked up Missee Lee next. It's a great story, but sadly the insistence of Ransome to write all of the Chinese characters with phonetic, very stereotyped dialogue and characters really ruined it for me. I'm hoping the next book in the series will help to restore my faith!
Back to the fantastic, though. After watching the first few episodes of the Netflix adaptation of The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (Pushkin Press), and discussing it at length on twitter, it felt important to finally read the book and it really didn't disappoint. It's essentially your basic quest narrative - Tiuri is completing the final stage of his training to become a knight when a desperate stranger's plea for help completely derails him and sends him on an epic journey through forest and mountains to deliver a secret and essential letter for the king...It's a pacy story full of danger and twists and turns, and I really enjoyed it.
The final book I actually managed to finish this summer was a graphic novel. The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint, Griffin, Justin and Travis McElroy and Carey Pietsch (First Second Books) is a Dungeons and Dragons game in graphic novel form, with the main action happening amongst the characters in the game but frequent interjections from the GM (game master) about specifics of the characters, or actions they've chosen to take. It's hilarious, especially if you're a person who's played DnD or similar things. It's also an interesting experiment, as The Adventure Zone was originally a podcast run by the McElroy family, and this is an attempt to turn that into a graphic novel, and in my opinion it's one that succeeds!
I started two books that I haven't finished yet this summer too : The Deep South by Paul Theroux is a travel book all about Theroux's road trip to the Southern states of America. I'm enjoying it, but it's big and not a quick read so I'm taking my time. I'm also still reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. It shouldn't take me too much longer, and I can definitely see the Moomin similarities despite this being a book for adults!
What did you read this summer? Have you read any of these? Let us know in the comments!
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