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Seamlessly meshing fact and fantasy, the author composes a suspenseful masterpiece that will have audience members gladly suspending their disbelief. Ages 10-up.
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.
Be prepared to be swept away by atmospheric writing that
casts a lasting spell. Sally Gardner's prose is exquisitely beautiful and her
story and characters enthralling. She has written a rare and glorious book.
December 2005 was a very special month for Sally Gardner - the month I, Corinder, her first book for older children, won the Nestle Children's Book Prize in the 9-11 years category. Not bad for a woman who was written off as "unteachable" and sent to a school for maladjusted children because she was so profoundly dyslexic...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
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 ...
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