Firstly, I apologise for not posting a Middle Grade Monday blog last week. It was quite a crazy time, with my exam on the Monday and the Music Festival all week. But I wanted to make sure I got this blog up on the right day! Today, I'll be discussing how to put magic into a setting, particularly for middle grade books. One of the key points to make is that magic is not unusual for children. It is quite normal for a class of children to believe that magic exists, and this has both benefits and drawbacks. The benefit is that you don't have to spend as long persuading the reader that a magical place is relatable. The drawback is they already have a set idea as to what magic is like and, if you want to go outside the box as many authors do, it can cause problems. When planning how to put magic into your setting, you can ask yourself some questions: Is the whole world magic, or just select places? Perhaps there is an underwater kingdom of magic, while the folk on shore are just lik...
"Victoria's Victorian Victory" by Abigail Shepherd
Book Review
☆☆☆☆
I really enjoyed this book! It was about a subject that I'm
really interested in - I love old-style farming. In fact, Mum and I love to
snuggle up in front of an episode of "Victorian Farm". The fact that
the story was engaging and very well written, on top of this, meant that I
could very easily go back and read the whole book again!
Vicky was very well developed throughout the book. I can't
say I particularly liked her all the way through, but this made her human. I
identified quite a bit with Mary-Anne and could see myself in some of her
characteristics.
Weirdly enough, I imagined the farm somewhere in Devon. I
can't remember if it says where it is set – I think it was the strawberries!
And the weather!
My wish was that the ending could have been longer. By the
end of the book, I felt like I knew the characters well and I would have liked
maybe one more chapter of them settling into the new way of things. Maybe I’m
just being greedy, but I was quite disappointed when my kindle told me I’d come
to the end of the book.
Overall, this was a great book that I really enjoyed! I would certainly recommend it to others, especially those fans of “Victorian Farm”. I may even persuade my Mum to read it!
I just remembered something that really caught my attention! The book is historically accurate, even down to the little tiny details. One small part of the book mentions that the room that had been used by the live-in servant was now being used to store apples. This really interested me as I was talking to my Grandma last week - she was telling us about her friend who had a room in the attic which used to be a servant's bedroom but was later used as a storeroom for the farm's fruit. Little things!!
Blurb (from Goodreads)
Fourteen year old Victoria Bloom is great at having ideas, but they don't always go to plan. Now her mistakes will have bigger consequences than ever before as it has fallen to her to run the family farm. With harvest season fast approaching, it's urgent she makes it profitable again, or they will lose it altogether.
An entertaining yet educational historical read designed primarily for girls between the ages of 10-14.
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