Month: May 2017

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The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper Book 2 of 5

 Synopsis:

Will Stanton, seventh son of a seventh son is turning eleven and this birthday marks the beginning  of his awakening as the last of the Old Ones. The Dark is Rising tells how Will, met by Merriman Lyon, comes to power in the modern world and must accumulate the six “signs” to help fight the rising Dark.

Pros:

  • This is a basic story about Good versus Evil and how everyone must at some point make a stand for one or the others.
  • The pros in this book is stunning example where art and popular stories merge into one well done novel. Susan Cooper is hitting her stride after book one and doesn’t seem to look back.
  • This was one of the first fantasy novels to break into the Newbery Awards, which was no small feat back when it was originally written.
  • The story is well paced and full of suspense and creepy backdrops, but that might fall under the Con category.

Cons:

  • I really can’t think of any, but if you have a problem Arthur tales and the legends of Cornwall England, this may not be the book for your reader.
  • Like in the review for Book One of the series, I don’t find this story antithetical to anyone’s beliefs unless you’re an atheist. Since this is only fiction, I can’t imagine anyone taking a story so literally that it would cause them problems.

Final Word:

I cannot say enough good about this novel. This was one of two novels responsible for turning me into a reader.If you have any qualms as an adult, I recommend you read it first before you turn it over to your young reader.

 

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Published in 1943, The Little Prince is still in print today. Why? Because its characters are ageless.Synopsis

 

The Little Prince leaves his tiny planet and explores several other planets, including Earth, and it is on Earth where most of the story takes place. Told from the point-of-view of a pilot stranded in the desert, he relates his tale of meeting this strange little prince who becomes his companion as he struggles to fix his plane and return to civilization.

Doesn’t sound like much, but listen to what the Little Prince has to say. “Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.” His statement reminds me of the words from the author of Hebrews: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In natural conversations, the Little Prince is full of deep wisdom, which reminds me of Jesus’s words, “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Thus, it is far more than a cute little story about a cute little prince.

Pros

Saint-Exupéry zeroes in on what is important in life, and children have no problems getting to the heart of a matter (see my Pinocchio post from a while back).

The author also pokes fun at adults’ eccentricities, always returning to the premise that the soul of an innocent child sees Truth.

Cons

I had a hard time getting connected to the story. By the end, I was fascinated, bit it took time, and time is what most readers in today’s world refuse to give. Not only does the story lack shoot-‘em-up action (which isn’t quite true at the climax), it’s difficult to gauge the author’s intent among the seeming disparate stories of the minor characters as each is introduced. Maybe I’ve lost my child’s sense of wonder—I’ll see what my grandchildren think and report back.

Discussion Questions

NONE.

Because of my own reactions to this story, I don’t believe it’s a book meant for the classroom. It seems “sacredly family.” A parent can ask a dozen questions per page—there are so many possible avenues to follow, which is why it’s a classic and still available almost seventy-five years later.

Let Mom and Dad direct any discussions as they see fit.

Final Thoughts

The Little Prince was published in the middle of World War II. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot for the French resistance. His plane went down during a reconnaissance mission in 1944. I wonder what other jewels he might have created that this world will never read.

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Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper: Book 1 of 5

Synopsis

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper is a  middle grade fantasy novel and the first of five in The Dark Is Rising series. It features the Drew children: Simone, Jane, and Barney vacationing with their parents in the fictional village of Trewissick.

The  children find an old manuscript with a map of the Cornwall coast in the ttic of the mansion they’re renting for the summer. When Barney discovers the map is related to King Arthur, they turn to their Great-uncle Merry. He confirms that the map is a reproduction of a much older map to an ancient relic of Britain, the children decide  to withhold the information from the adults and set themselves to treasure hunting. Merry does warn the children that there adults looking for the artifact, especially and organization called The Dark. Soon the summer activity turns dangerous as they are pursued by agents of The Dark, bent on possessing the relic for themselves.

  • Pros:

The book will be enjoyed by boys and girls since the protagonists are a sister and her brothers. The book isn’t spooky, but it is thrilling and has a lot of action that utilizes the supernatural as the backdrop of story.

Susan Cooper is a wonderful writer and took advantage of all the English folklore from the Cornwall region and uses it as a backdrop for all five  books. Of all the books, Over Sea, Under Stone is probably the weakest of the stories, but it was also the first of the series. This means that if you like book one, the next four only get better.  If you don’t like book one, try the next one because it gets better.

  • Cons:

The series is a fantasy series and will get darker as the books progress on, though in defense of Ms. Cooper, you will never find her books without hope or dreary. Some children might not enjoy the darker aspects of the story.

While the whole series takes advantage of the Arthur legend, the first book utilizes the Holy Grail legend as a backdrop.  While I don’t believe they are antithetical to Christian, or any other belief system (with the exception of Atheism), the Arthur legend does run parallel with Christian beliefs: so be warned, or encouraged.

  • Final Word

Susan Cooper is the reason I fell in love with reading fantasy as an eight year-old. Though I didn’t start with book one in the series, I still found this book fun to read. Two of her books in the series won Newberry Awards, which in the sixties and seventies, was unheard of because of the general disdain for fantasy.  Having said that, her work has continued to win acclaim and readers across the genres, which speaks volumes to the quality of her writing.