This is a strange book that put me in mind of Pauline Fisk's award winning "Midnight Blue". Dinah is a bright young girl with a challenging childhood. Her mother has a new boyfriend with a dilapidated house in Cardiff that they move into. But the relationship between Dinah and the boyfriend - Gomer - is a poor one, with no love lost on either side.

Somehow Dinah manages to unleash forces relating to the stone images at the nearby castle. The ensuing story is somewhat disturbing - and the question is whether she will be able to control the forces she has unleashed. Will her school friends be able to help?

This is an interesting, and somewhat strange book. Worth reading though. (

)

sirfurboy | Jun 15, 2009 |

Nimmo's new book is a stand-alone, not a series like her well-known Charlie Bone books or her Magician trilogy. I grabbed this book from our school librarian before she even got it catalogues. I really like the Charlie Bone books, even if it took the second book before I really got into them--they are a good, original children's fantasy series. With the Magician books and this one, Nimmo moves even further into Welsh mythology, reminding me a lot in tone of Alan Garner's books. This story eerily evokes the mindset of a very bright girl who has never belonged, never had a home of her own, and her imagination brings to life stone animals from a wall near a Welsh castle. Recommended. (

)

ronincats | Apr 3, 2009 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 2 of 2

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Series (with order)

Canonical Title

Original publication date

People/Characters

Dinah

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0439025540, Hardcover)

Lonely and friendless from constantly moving, Dinah finds herself wishing the animal statues protecting a nearby Welsh castle would keep her company. Suddenly, to Dinah's delight, the stone animals start to magically spring from the walls and follow her home. But when the animals refuse to let Dinah leave her house, she quickly realizes that these mysterious creatures aren't rescuing her, they're imprisoning her. . . .

Jenny Nimmo is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Charlie Bone series as well as the award-winning Magician's Trilogy, all published by Orchard Books. After its original publication, GRIFFIN'S CASTLE was short listed for the Smarties Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award, and the W.H. Smith's Mind Boggling Award. She lives with her husband in an old mill in Wales.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400)

▾Open Shelves Classification

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.