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Synopsis
Nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal, short-listed for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award The little cradle creaked on curved rockers, creak, creak on the flagstone floor; a tiny cradle of dark brown wood, with carved acorns on each of the corners of the square wooden hood. Figures in long dresses and white bonnets surrounded it. One of them turned her face to Jack. "Jack, please help us!" Jack's dream is frightening and confusing. It seems almost true and he senses that it contains some sort of message for him. Jack's intuition is correct, and the cradle comes to play an important part in his life, linking him with the past - so much so that he begins to live in two worlds; his ordinary, everyday time and one in Eyam, an isolated village in Derbyshire in the year 1665. ‘…a writer who knows how to weave a plot, character, and major themes into a haunting, wonderful story. Ten out of ten…’ — Weekend Telegraph Linda Kempton is the author of And God Gives Nuts to Those Who Have No Teeth; Who’ll Catch The Nightmares (featured in the Young Book Trust's 100 Best Books of 1997), and The Tale of Jessica Sweetapple. The Federation of Children's Book Groups voted The Naming of William Rutherford one of the best 10 novels of the year. Linda was born and grew up in Derbyshire where she still lives.
Although I am an adult, I acquired this book at Eyam Museum after visiting the village (for the second time) with friends last July.As a former primary schoolteacher, this is undoubtedly a book I would recommend to readers throughout Key Stage 2. The novel develops superbly the emotions of the central characters, Jack and Susannah and the twists and turns, in what is quite a short novel, would leave readers of all ages in awe of what will happen next. The frustration of Jack not being able to visit Susannah and her family to see if baby William survived the plague, due to the missing acorn, is tenderly written. The last chapter, when they discover, through records, that Susannah died young yet William survived to old age, is a moving moment, and choosing William as Jack's baby brother's name is a fitting climax.In short, a thoroughly absorbing and beautiful read.
Stephen Pawsey
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