Share-A-Book Saturday (23)

This is something I found over on Just Another Book Addict =), and I thought I'd do my own. There are so many great books out there that get overlooked (especially if they've been out for a while)!

Every Saturday, you share (recommend) a book, preferably one that you haven't reviewed yet. It's just a way to get other books out into the blogging world. This is NOT a review.

Today I'm going to recommend Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.

Tom is furious. His brother, Peter, has measles, so now Tom is being shipped off to stay with Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in their boring old apartment. There'll be nothing to do there and no one to play with. Tom just counts the days till he can return home to Peter.

Then one night the landlady's antique grandfather clock strikes thirteen times, leading Tom to a wonderful, magical discovery and marking the beginning of a secret that's almost too amazing to be true. But it is true, and in the new world that Tom discovers is a special friend named Hatty and more than a summer's worth of adventure for both of them. Now Tom wishes he could stay with his relatives and Hatty -- forever...

I read this charming story years ago when I was on a bit of a classics kick. It's a newer classic (written in the 1950s), but it would probably still appeal to people who like the really old stuff.

England has produced some great children's authors in the last 100 years or so who wrote books that are still being enjoyed today. And those books often have a flavour that is so very... well, English. Tom's Midnight Garden is one of those. As a fantasy, it reminds me a little bit of Coraline or Marianne Dreams... but without the creepiness factor. There's just something intriguing and enchanting about a clock that strikes thirteen and opens a doorway into the past...