THE WINDVALE SPRITES
By Mackenzie Crook
224 pp. Faber and Faber. £6.99. (Ages 9 and up)
ISBN
9780571240722
Rating: ? Stars
I read this book because I found it interesting that someone who is best known as a bad pirate that is always pulling his eye out and eating it could be a respectable writer. It would surprise you to see what completely different people he could be.
This book is about a boy called Asa, who after a huge storm finds a sprite (fairy) in his garden. Determined to find out if anyone else knows about these sprites he looks through old books in the library. While looking through books he finds one about a madman called Benjamin Tooth who said he saw sprites. It also tells him about a trunk and a lost key. While going outside he trips over a bird case and finds the lost key inside the bird. Then he gets himself locked inside the trunk and looks through it until he finds out that the sprites live in the Windvale Moor. This book reminds me of how people kill endangered species for no reason. The boy in the book is like Jane Goodall because he cares about animals. I think many children aged nine to twelve should read this book because they would enjoy it and it has parallels in the real world.
also on Guardian Children's Books Site
