Monday, 14 February 2011
Jinnie Ghost
Apologies for the short hiatus in reviews but now we've got over our colds, and have managed to get to Abingdon Library again, we're back in business.
Starting off with a book that, by rights, should scare the pants off Charlotte, ghosts and monsters are delicately woven into this tale of a roving ghost. Visiting children in the town in turn, Jinnie Ghost peppers their dreams (and nightmares) with visions both surreal, menacing and serene.
It's definitely not a book you'd want to read a toddler at bedtime. Too many instances of 'things crawling under the bed' and a reference to the Bogeyman which could make youngsters slightly squeamish.
And yet...
Perhaps Charlotte does take after me a little, particularly given that her favourite film / CD soundtrack AND popup book of the moment is Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (much to the exasperation of my long-suffering wife!).
There's something intriguing and attractive to youngsters in books of this ilk, where the fantastic, the slightly scary and the paranormal mix with normal everyday children and their lives.
Of the six books we grabbed in our library trip this week, Jinnie Ghost has proved to be the most popular by far and that's partly due to the gently poetic story, and partly due to the superb artwork by Berlie Doherty.
Recommended, but during daylight hours.
Charlotte's best bit: Naturally, the fact that the first child that Jinne Ghost 'haunts' is a girl called Charlotte who wants to be a princess.
Daddy's favourite bit: The dreamlike feel to the artwork and the lovely floaty Jinnie herself
Rating: 4 out of 5
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