What are the best Scottish children's books?
|
Version 0 of 1. Emily MacKenzie - Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted by Mairi Hedderwick When I was about seven, we had a memorable family holiday on Mull – it felt like it rained all the time and I lost Snowy the soft toy seal I’d bought at a gift shop, but it was lovely anyway! I came back dreaming of island living and getting up to mischief with all my pals. Years later, I was so happy to come across Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted by Mairi Hedderwick. The stunning inky landscapes transported me back to that time (particularly when Ted is lost at sea!) reminding me of fun childhood adventures. Hedderwick’s stories are a perfect nostalgic celebration of rural Scottish life for children and adults alike – I love them! Elizabeth Laird - Kidnapped by RL Stephenson RL Stephenson’s great story Kidnapped is the ultimate Scottish children’s book for me. Its hero, David Balfour, is a canny Lowland Scot, all Presbyterianism and prudence. Thanks to the wickedness of his uncle Ebenezer, he is set on a course of thrilling adventures which brings him into the orbit of the charismatic Alan Breck, a wildly reckless and romantic Highlander. The writing, spare and eloquent, is superb. The scenery is so vividly portrayed that you can smell the heather and feel the roughness of rock underfoot, and the characters live on in your mind, long after you have finished reading. Gillian Phillip – The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame There’s a lot of nostalgia in this choice (it’s the first book my grandmother read to me) but that’s appropriate since The Wind In The Willows is so much about longing, and loss, and the joys of home. ‘Home’ needn’t be the one you came from; it can be the one you’ve chosen. Adventure is as enticing as it is dangerous. All the characters (especially Toad) are endearing, but deeply imperfect. And Kenneth Grahame’s descriptive writing might be a challenge for young readers, but it’s so lovely, it’s worth the effort – just like travelling, or simply messing about in boats. Elizabeth Wein - A Stranger Came Ashore by Mollie Hunter I feel sure there’s no more magical yet believable scene in literature than the lead-in to the final battle of A Stranger Came Ashore, as the straw-clad Guisers of Up Helly Aa dance from home to home in the green glow of the aurora borealis. But for me, the most wonderful and true moment of the book happens when Robbie manages to hold and feel the furnace-like heat of a baby seal. A Stranger Came Ashore, like all Mollie Hunter’s books, is stunning in its blend of local tradition and belief, legend and life. Pamela Butchart – Harry Potter series by JK Rowling I’ve often heard of mums and dads sneaking Harry Potter books away from their children in order to read them (and in one case unwrapping and re-wrapping a Christmas gift!). For me, part of the magic of Harry Potter is its potential to reach and be loved by the whole family. Being able to share your excitement about a book with a parent or older sibling (and have it genuinely reciprocated) is a very special thing. The books are also the only fiction that my husband has enjoyed in 20 years! I hope one day we’ll be lucky enough to have children and I look forward to my husband sharing Harry Potter with our family (costumes not optional). Related: Which children's books define the Scottish identity? Ross Mackenzie - Peter Pan by JM Barrie There will always be a special place in my heart for Peter Pan and Wendy. To this day, JM Barrie’s tale can carry me back to childhood, when summer lasted a lifetime and magic was every bit as real as grey Glasgow rain. An unforgettable hero, a brilliant baddie, and a land we all wish we could visit at some point in our lives. What more could you want? Joan Lingard – The Spanish Letters by Mollie Hunter Mollie Hunter was both a great friend and a very fine writer for children. She was fascinated by Scotland’s history and its folklore – almost all her novels reflect her tremendous knowledge of both. The Spanish Letters is set in Edinburgh in the 16th Century. Mollie used the twists and dark corners of the closes and wynds of the Old Town – Edinburgh did not yet have a New Town – as the setting for her thriller about a Spanish plot to invade England and Scotland. Like Mollie, I have always enjoyed creating stories children will enjoy from historical facts they may not have come across yet. Settings are obviously important – and as a writer you have to respect what was real at the time of the story you’re writing. But the real key to success lies in finding the right characters to carry that story. Mollie Hunter’s characters – real and imagined – are always memorable. Simon Puttock - The Adventures of Hamish and Mirren by Moira Miller Being an incomer, Scottish stories make me an explorer (an explorer seeking peculiarly Scottish wonders). In the world of children’s books, none delivers them more assuredly than Miller’s sublimely Scots-for-all-comers, recently compendiumised The Adventures of Hamish and Mirren: deftly sly, delightfully wry, filled with acute observation and delicious nonsense, lyricism and galumph, these stories are as beguiling as the magic that meddles in our eponymous heroes’ lives. Glorious for sharing, they read richly in the mind’s eye, too, opening wide a welcoming door to folkloric Scotland: guaranteed wonder-full. Danny Weston – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson The greatest Scottish children’s book of all time has to be Treasure Island. Written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881, it started life as a serial adventure published in the children’s magazine Young Folks. Stevenson published his ‘story for boys’ under the pseudonym of Captain George North. It was originally written to amuse his young stepson Lloyd and finally became a book in 1883. Since then it’s never been out of print. There surely cannot be a more seminal book in history – everything we know… or think we know… about pirates stems from this thrilling adventure story. The shortlist for the 2016 Scottish children’s book award is announced today. Find out who’s in the running here. |