Ann PillingRezensionen

Hmmm, not a great book, haphazard story, shallow characters and a rushed ending. It had its moments but all in all I didn’t enjoy it.

Pin collects things and in one bizarre episode empties some baked beans into a goldfish bowl sending the fish dizzy. I didn't get a lot out of this book.

Twelve-year-old Angela Grace Collis-Browne was happy attending the comprehensive school in Darnley, the industrial mill town in northern England where her father was vicar. But when Rev. Collis-Browne, who was once a doctor, decided to join a medical mission to Pakistan, and his wife accompanied him, Angela found herself deposited, together with her dog Muffet, at The Moat - an exclusive girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, where her coldly distant Auntie Pat was the owner and headmistress.

Significantly overweight, in addition to being the Head's niece, Angela was an immediate target for the bullies in her dorm, led by the mean-spirited Sophie Sharman, who nicknamed her "The Big Pink." But Angela, despite her desire to avoid attention, was no doormat, and she soon had her own group of friends and allies - kindly Matron, eccentric English teacher Miss Moss, and two fellow students (Kath Broughton and Hettie Macbride) known as "The Uglies" - and was fighting back. Who would triumph, the AA (the Anti-Angela Society) or the SAS (the Society Against Sophie)? Would Angela ever find the courage to show the school her singing talent? And would Angela ever understand, or warm up to, her Auntie Pat...?

Originally published in 1987, Ann Pilling's The Big Pink is a school story that came along long after the heyday of the genre, one that incorporates many of its common motifs - the new girl who must find her place at school, the rival societies, the seemingly unfriendly mistresses who are really "OK" in the end, the midnight feast - but also subverts some of its expectations. Angela stays overweight, despite her aunt's efforts at imposing a diet, and although she gains in both self-confidence and insight, during her stay at The Moat, she leaves with some of the same insecurities she brought with her.

In some ways, this felt a little dated, with its references to then-current trends and events - Madonna's song Material Girl is playing, in one scene (although Pilling doesn't mention her by name, I simply adored the fact that she mentioned pop stars sounding like they were constipated), the girls watch video cassettes, one character is greatly concerned about the bombings in Northern Ireland - but it also felt current, in the way it presented issues of bullying, body image and belonging. All in all, this was an engaging read, one I would particularly recommend to fans of the girls' school story genre.

This is an outstandingly good book. It's one of the few YA ghost stories I've read that can still scare me as an adult — it's genuinely creepy. If you're a writer, you should study the way Pilling gets her effects. I'd say more but if I discuss them they won't work as well. ;-)

We get creation stories from all over: China, The Bible, North America, Norse, Greek Mythology, Norway and many others. My favorite unknown story was an Austrailian Aboriginal Story called 'Why There Are Butterflies.' The animals of this world did not understand death and when it happened they were sad and did not understand so they asked for help. The crow said that death was a cycle, that in death we go to another existence and then come back. All the animals tried to be something else, the only ones that succeded were the bugs. All the animals were happy because they knew death was no longer scary.

An enjoyable scary tale that follows the Black harvest( though doesn't necessarily has to have been read). It's Easter, and the blakeman children, Prue and Colin, with their annoying cousin Oliver are off to stay with a distant relative in the small village of Stang. Stang is a place deeply immersed in local customs and folklore, being home to a pit that reputedly has Old Stang at the bottom, because a beggar centuries before cursed the town to flood. The locals have a mixed reaction to the visitors, the Edges(who trace their ancestory to the beggar) are openly hostile. Will the children be able to understand and defeat the dark forces at work before it's too late?
Highly recommended, it's better than The Black harvest, and Oliver is a really interesting charater. I will be looking for the rest in the series.

A creepy story about 3 children who go to stay in Ireland for the summer. Colin and Prue don't like their weedy cousin Oliver, especially as he doesn't seem affected by the ghostly smells and sights they're seeing,but they have to work togtehr to save their baby sister, who's dieing of a famine from the centuries before...

I liked this book of poetry with its green cover, especially Eating in the street.