The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

This novel comes next after Over Sea, Under Stone, which is also in the Little Library of Rescued Books. This series will get you in once you start reading it...and there is the film which can watch. I have The Seeker: the Dark is Rising DVD for any student who wishes to watch it. You can have a sneak preview by watching the trailer below. In this book the main character is eleven year old Will who is the seventh son of the seventh son, and he learns that he is an Old One whose destiny is to struggle for The Light(the good) against The Dark(evil). It contains elements of realistic fiction as well as fantasy. If you liked Harry Potter series, or books by the author C.S. Lewis, then I imagine you will enjoy this series too.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Brand New to the Little Library of Rescued Books is this brand new books which is one of my all time favourites. It is one of the easier classics to read and has been made into a beautiful film. Below you can take a sneak preview. I am thinking of bringing in my Video player so students can individually watch some of the videos I have kept; this could be a new experience! Originally this book was published as a serial format and it was published in its entirety in 1910. The central character, Mary Lennox is a snotty-nosed, middle class brat who you could almost classify as narcissistic. She has recently been orphaned and has been given a home by her uncle in a remote and quiet country house. Her uncle, Mr Craven, doesn't seem to have visitors, in fact, he has almost completely cut himself off from people since his wife died. Mary is intrigued by the garden and finds a hidden side to the house when she hears a crying child. She discovers an overgrown garden which is walled off from the rest and her curiosity gets the better of her and soon she urgently seeks the key to unlock the secrets of the garden.

Witch Music and Other Stories by Gillian Rubinstein

Again, if you like the pleasure of reading a story in a sitting this may be a book you would enjoy. It contains eight short stories which mainly deal with social situations. They are like magical realism in many respects; very typical of this author. My favourite magical realism author is Isabel Allende, a Chilean writer, who has written three books for children in recent years.These stories from Rubinstein are in fact magical stories set in ordinary settings such as primary school, at the beach and at home. Each story is prefaced by a detailed ink depiction of the story by artist Malcolm Liddell. My favourite story is The Unproper Father about Mr Williams who drank, never became violent, but was a bit hazy. Once he came to your house it was hard to make him leave. One scene is reminiscent of the times when I used to put my ear to the rails of the tracks of the very narrow train bridge which ran over the Leven Bridge in Ulverstone on the north-west coast of Tasmania, to check for the possibility of a train before scurrying across it with athletic-speed. Hopefully kids don't do dumb things like this these days. Many incidents in this story remind me of my childhood. so maybe that it why it appealed to me.