That’s the question that firmly drives Piers Torday’s brilliant ‘The Lost Magician’.
Are you a Read or an Unread?
Which side are you on? Piers pitches us into a bitter caustic war between story and fact. Whilst admittedly fueled by his love of the work of C.S.Lewis, this is undeniably its own beast, and completely stands on its own two feet.
From the moment i took the dust jacket off and saw the superb under the jacket design I knew I was in for a treat. It is a book made with love.
When Simon, Patricia, Evelyn and Larry step through a mysterious library door in 1945 having survived the Blitz , it is the beginning of their most dangerous adventure yet. They discover the magical world of Folio, where an enchanted kingdom is under threat from a sinister robot army. The stories of the Library are locked in eternal war, and the children’s only hope is to find their creator. It is war between harsh fact which tries to reduce everything to data and the imagination of story and creativity with the untold menace of utter ignorance awaiting its moment.
There are so many talking points and references to the now and whilst the book is a love letter to libraries and the power of children’s literature, ultimately it is a book about balance and compromise; of needing and benefiting from differences. For me the key truth is that stories are not just entertainment but provide us with the universal truth of what it means to be human and that they too teach us things, help us to learn and develop and have true value and importance. Fact is world run on facts alone would be a sad place indeed.
A definite future classic IMO.
Age range Year 5/6 pupils and up
This would make a perfect class read with so much to talk about
