Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Reading Time
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Highly Recommended
      • CBCA Short Listed
      • Early Childhood Books
      • Younger Readers
      • Intermediate Readers
      • Older Readers
      • ANZAC books
      • Great Read Alouds
      • Information Books
      • LGBTQIA+
      • Picture Books
      • Professional Development
    • Interviews
    • Suggestions
    • News
    • Meet The Review Team
    • Contact Us
    Reading Time
    You are at:Home»Reviews»Older Readers»The Forbidden Library

    The Forbidden Library

    0
    By Admin on July 4, 2014 Older Readers

    forbidden library

    WEXLER, Django The Forbidden Library Random House, 2014 328pp NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9780552572286 SCIS 1656726

    To a degree, the heart of Wexler’s fantasy is where the reader is invited to see the richness of life and the real dilemmas of what it is to become a Reader, a person who literally enters in to the Forbidden Library where ancient texts hold a form of magic that reaches out across time and space, such that, for those truly open to the telling, they can become Readers who are possessed and potentially powerful players in this world and all possible worlds.

    Young Alice lives in the early nineteenth century world of the depression era where life’s past certainties of substance and security are disppearing.  She is a very respectful young girl (fit for living in a patriarchal world) who is overwhelmed when, late at night, she overhears a fairy arguing with her father, when later her father tells her that he must travel overseas by steamer, and when the ship her father is on has sunk in a freak storm ‘with all hands’.  Suddenly all structure is gone in her life as she is surrounded by parasitic lawyers and sent off to an uncle she didn’t know existed, one Geryon.  His manor-type house is remote and, along with the library, a place full of strange characters doing seemingly odd things to do with books.  Slowly her true nature emerges.  Behind the respectful exterior, she is an inquisitive, persistent person who is prepared to cross the boundaries set by others to search for the truth of what has happened to her father and to find out what is the nature of our existence.  Is reading simply a school thing or is there magic in our world today?

    Of course, as a hero type story, there are plenty of villains.  From questionable relatives to aggressive servants, from fairies (of the bogey nature) to dragons, Alice has to show in-depth and lateral thinking as much as courage to win, episode by episode.  However, there is one villain (which then becomes her familiar), a ‘swarm’ bird pictorially represented as a kiwi.  Forgetting the notion that swarms of kiwis down-under (national icon and all that) are potentially a threat to an American hero, there is the issue of eco-criticism; namely, how children are positioned to read the world in the word.  The notion of the kiwi being aggressive towards larger animals like humans is not ecologically accurate: they are more inquisitive and at risk because they have not experienced large aggressors.  Being flightless, they are vulnerable to cats, dogs and stoats.  Indeed, as a consequence, they are an endangered/critically endangered species.  They are aggressive towards their own species (territory and all that) but don’t attack humans deliberately.  Does it matter?  Certainly, younger readers need to be given the critical skills to assess, and if necessary, unlearn information that is embedded in fiction.  What do you think?

    reviewed by John McKenzie

    1800s Depression Era Fairies fantasy Historical library magic Nineteenth Century reading

    Related Posts

    Dirt Circus League

    Dark Rise

    Find Your Kindred Spirits

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    • Themes
    • Curriculum
    Action adventure Airplanes Alphabet Anxiety autism Bullying CBCA Awards Coming of age Dystopian emotions family fantasy friendship grief Historical humour magic Mystery Post apocalyptic Readers Cup reluctant readers school Sci-Fi series of books siblings Sport Starting school Teacher Notes
    ANZAC Australian animals Australian history Biography Culture & Diversity Disabilities First Nations Geography health Humanities mental health Poetry Reconciliation resilience Science STEM Stolen Generation sustainability Wordless books



    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    Recent Posts
    • Enough Love?
    • Wonderful Shoes
    • A Human for Kingsley
    • Dirt Circus League
    • Dark Rise
    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    © Copyright 2021 The Children’s Book Council of Australia - All rights reserved

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Posting....