T is for Dido Twite from Black Hearts in Battersea #AtoZChallenge #TuesdayBookBlog

  Joan Aiken was an amazing writer of children’s fiction about the supernatural or alternative history. The long series of fat books which begin with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase are set in Britain in a version of late 17th century history where James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution, but supporters of

S is for Sally Lockhart #AtoZChallenge #MondayBlogs

Although I read the three books of Philip Pullmans’ “His Dark Materials” with great enjoyment, there is something about the Sally Lockhart mysteries which appealed to me more, and that is mainly Sally herself.       In the first book The Ruby in the Smoke, Sally is a pretty sixteen year old orphan. Her father has

R is for Ratty from Wind in the Willows #AtoZChallenge

  In the first chapter of Wind in the Willows, Mole abandons his spring cleaning and wanders down to the riverbank.  There, through a small hole in the opposite bank he spots, “A brown little face, with whiskers.  A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye that had first attracted his notice. 

Q is for Ramona Quimby #AtoZChallenge #FridayReads

    Ramona Quimby is an ordinary little girl with normal parents and a well-behaved older sister.  Although set in America, this family could easily be a typical British middle-class family where times are sometimes hard. My favourite book is Ramona the Pest when she anxiously starts nursery school alongside her neighbour, Howie.  Her kind