The Children of Green Knowe, by The Children of Green Knowe

It is a sheer delight to read such a beautifully written and imaginative story in today's world of formulaic writing for children. "The Children of Green Knowe" defies categorisation but somehow captured the imagination of 40-something Mum and (then) 7 year old son alike.

The language and some of the concepts involved in the book seem, superficially, to be beyond the scope of younger readers but somehow, when read aloud, the gist of the meaning on a number of levels can be picked up by children. The descriptive passages are beautifully evocative: you can see the greenness of the garden, feel the sharpness of the yew and hear the crisp footprints on new-fallen snow. I read the book to my son at Christmas-time which added to the atmosphere.

Perhaps what I loved most was the room for mystery and wonder, and for questions that don't all get answered. Are the children ghosts or spirits? Is the house itself alive in some way?

Finally, the woodcuts by Peter Boston are enchanting and further add to the other-wordly feel of the book.

Written in 1954 this is an utterly magical book which is so gentle and evocative it almost had me in tears. It tells the story of 'Tolly' a boy sent to stay with his great-grandmother in the school holidays as his parents are dead. The house is alive with the personalities who have lived there all down the centuries, Tolly's ancestors.
The first of a series of 6 books set in the author's real house - 'The Manor' in the village of Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire. Built in the 1130s it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Britain.