-
Access our Top 20
Books of 2024!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:Magic hovers just beneath the surface in this unusual and moving story about the bond between a boy and his grandfather.
An unusual and moving story about the magical bond between a boy and his grandfather.
Does it just happen that Gavin and Grandad see the seal while they are fishing in the harbor? Just happen that Grandad talks about the selkies, the seal people who can leave the water and take human form? Just happen that Grandad is finishing the beautiful miniature boat he's making for Gavin's tenth birthday, and Gavin decides to call her Selkie? And at that moment, Grandad has his stroke. Could the selkies have something to do with all this
Day after day at the hospital, Gavin tries to get through to helpless and speechless Grandad, trying to reach him, explain what's happened to him. Everyone else has given up. But Gavin will try anything. Even asking the selkies to help. To do that, he must give them something to show them how much it matters. What is the dearest thing he owns?
Chapter 1
Gavin and Grandad were fishing for mackerel from the harbor wall when the seal popped its head out of the water. For a moment Gavin thought it was a loose net-float bobbing about. Then he saw the two eyes, large, round, and glistening black, staring straight at him. The thing rose a bit more and he saw the whiskery muzzle and knew what he was looking at.
He'd never seen a seal that close. They often came to Stonehaven but usually stayed farther out. What's more, though it must have seen Gavin, it didn't duck out of sight but stayed where it was, staring. Gavin stared straight back.
"It looks like Dodgem begging for handouts," he said.
(Dodgem was Gran's dog, a sort-of-bulldog. He looked tough, but was really a total wimp, and lazy and greedy with it. You couldn't imagine him dodging anything. Gavin's elder brother, Donald, swore he'd once seen him collide with an old woman with a walker, though he'd been moving slower than she ...
A lovely book that is well worth reading, and one that would be particularly apt for children coping with the serious illness of a family member, elderly or otherwise...continued
Full Review
(256 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Peter Dickinson, born in
1927, has written more than fifty novels for
adults and young readers; and has won both
the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread
Children's Award twice.
He is a tall, elderly, bony, beaky, wrinkled
sort of fellow, with a lot of untidy gray
hair and a weird hooting voice – in fact he
looks and sounds a bit like Gandalf’s crazy
twin, but he's only rather absent-minded,
probably because he’s thinking about
something else. Day-dreaming, mostly.
...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Inside Grandad, try these:
by Sharon M. Draper
Published 2012
Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. She's the smartest kid in her whole school - but no one knows it, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write. Melody's story is one full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.
by David Almond, Polly Dunbar
Published 2011
Join a young girl and her dad as they find their wings and take to the skies in a joyful, quirky, tender tale from a masterful author and illustrator.
.png)
Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
