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Books Related to Short! Kevin Crossley-Holland - ISBN: 0192781480
Second Rate - Rated
There has always been something rather second rate about Kevin Crossley-Holland; if he has mastered anything it's picking at the off-cuts of other people's work and making them his own and I think that this collection demonstrates this clearly.
The traditional stories that are in this collection have all been done better elsewhere and the ones taht seem to be Crossley-Holland's own all seem imbued with something rather mean-spirited; tales full of children coming to harm or being threatened.
He even has a go at being "street" and getting down with the kids - "Hey, respect, lion!" But it doesn't work: it just sounds like some elderly white bloke trying to be current.
The writer's biography calls him a "master story-teller": that, for me, is just not true. His Arthur trilogy seems like a thin idea stretched even thinner - where's the plot, KCH?! - and this collection is the same thing, but in reverse: "I'll fob them off with some abbreviated bilge, it'll get me a few more school bookings where I can pontificate about being Welsh, talk down to them and then leave, quids in." (I speak from experience - I've heard him. There was something rather Daily Mail about him, as if all us should have been gratified that he deigned to slum it at a comprehensive for once).
So, no, don't buy this one. Dig a bit further and find a collection touched by more warmth, more humour
Short but so sweet - Rated
A class of 6-8 year olds. A wet and windy, indoor playtime day. A slightly frazzled Headteacher doing "supply". And a book! And what a book! Three selections - the shortest of the short just to prove that you don't need to write a novel to grab your reader. This book epitomises the ZEN of teaching and learning - listen for that one hand clapping! Saved!
