Review
From the book jacket: Coriander Hobie, born in 1643,
has a remarkable tale to tell -- the tale of a childhood touched by unexplained
bits of wonder, but too soon marked by tragedy. After her beloved mother dies
and her father is forced to flee London, Coriander is left at the mercy of a
stepmother full of cruelty. In the very nick of time, Coriander finds that she
has somehow managed to transport herself to a land of fairies, and there she
discovers what she has always suspected: that her mother was from a more magical
world than grimy old London. And that she herself has inherited some of her
mother's mysterious abilities - abilities that she now has a desperate need to
master.
Comment: I, Coriander is set in 17th century London, during the short-lived English
Republic when the reigning king of the time, Charles I, was executed...
Beyond the Book
Sally Gardner is an inspiration to all those children struggling
with dyslexia. She is so severely dyslexic that it wasn't until she was 14 that
she was able to read her first book. She says she can't explain how she finally
learned to read but 'at 14 something clicked and I could read. I read the
whole of Wuthering Heights. Every time before I tried to read there would be the
awful finger-following-every-word, speaking each one out loud. But you're not
reading, you're on that awful tram track and you haven't gone into the story.'
She was labeled unteachable and sent to a school for maladjusted children.
Despite this, she gained a degree with highest honors at a leading London art
college, followed by a scholarship to a theater school,...
