Category: Shabby Sunday

Shabby Sunday: The Gruffle in Puddle Lane by Sheila McCullagh

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Shabby Sunday is a meme started by Mischenko of ReadRantRock&Roll and credit also goes to her for the banner above.

My chosen book for this week is The Gruffle in Puddle Lane by Sheila McCullagh

 

1. The Gruffle in Puddle Lane. (Front Cover)

The Puddle Lane stories were originally published in the late 1980s after the television series and were written to help parents teach their children to read. My parents bought me and my sister the entire collection and we both have fond memories of them being read to us. 

Continue reading “Shabby Sunday: The Gruffle in Puddle Lane by Sheila McCullagh” →

Shabby Sunday: Watership Down by Richard Adams

~ sharisakurai ~ 1 Comment

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Shabby Sunday is a meme started by Mischenko of ReadRantRock&Roll and credit also goes to her for the banner above.

My chosen book for this week is

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society. 

image2I think there are very few children who did not grow up reading this novel at some point. Written as a more adult novel aimed at children, Watership Down tells the story of a group of wild rabbits who escape their warren’s destruction by man and set out to find a new home. My copy actually belonged to my mum, but I loved it so much that she gave it to me. It really has got rather shabby over the years but its a much treasured addition to my bookshelf.

Shabby Sunday: Remember Me by Christopher Pike

~ sharisakurai ~ 2 Comments

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Shabby Sunday is a meme started by Mischenko of ReadRantRock&Roll and credit also goes to her for the banner above.

My chosen book for this week is Remember Me by Christopher Pike

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If, like me, you’re a child of the 90s you would have most likely read some of Christopher Pike’s young adult novels. I also read a lot of Point Horrors, but Pike’s novels were always my favourites due to the more adult tone and themes running throughout each of his works. Remember Me was, and still is, my favourite and the novel that left the most lasting impression on me.  Continue reading “Shabby Sunday: Remember Me by Christopher Pike” →

Shabby Sunday: Silver Brumbies of the South by Elyne Mitchell

~ sharisakurai ~ 2 Comments

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This week I’m taking part in the Shabby Sunday meme started by Mischenko of ReadRantRock&Roll and credit also goes to her for the banner above.

My chosen book for this week’s is Silver Brumbies of the South by Elyne Mitchell.

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If you loved horses growing up the chances are you’ve come across this wonderful series by Australian author, Elyne Mitchell. The series follows the adventures of silver brumby Thowra and his descendants living wild in the Australia outback. The most well known book in the series is the first one, The Silver Brumby, but the others in the series are equally as amazing but sadly don’t seem to get as much love. With this in mind I decided to choose the third book in the series for Shabby Sunday.

In Silver Brumbies of the South, Thowra takes his son Lightning and grandson Baringa south so that they can start to form their own herds away from the threat of capture by man.

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The story main follows yearling Baringa but the other characters feature prominently as well. Unlike Lightning, Baringa has inherited the fleetness of foot, stealth and wisdom of Thowra, and being younger must use these skills to keep himself and his mate Dawn safe from other stallions, and also Lightning who wants Dawn for his own herd.

Silver Brumbies of the South is one of my favourite books in the series. I immediately fell in love with the characters and the rich descriptiveness of the outback and all the other animals living in it. I loved the gentleness to Baringa’s nature and that despite the growing rivalry between himself and Lightning he still cared for the older colt enough to help him when he was pursued by another stallion.

Re-reading this book instantly took me to a happy and nostalgic place, but what struck me most was the timelessness in the tale. It’s a series that will certainly delight many more generations to come and I recently leaned that it is now available on Kindle too. I have fond memories of days before internet shopping was widespread of searching image2second hand book shops and car boot sales for all the novels in the Silver Brumby series. Over a year I did find them all apart from the first one in the series, which purely by chance happened to be then re-released (Collins Modern Classics edition). As you can see from the photos my copy of Silver Brumbies of the South is a very old edition and at the time it only cost 30p!

I’m sure you can tell this book is much loved and, as with the entire series, has a treasured place on my bookshelf.