An enjoyable mix of memoir and trip down a children’s literature memory lane with just enough analysis and fact in to feel relevant and not self-indulgent.
Premise in a Nutshell
Lucy Mangan revisits her childhood. Exploring both her personal history but more significantly the books she adored and how they helped make her the person she is today.
Thoughts
I think you need to have been a childhood reader, or now love children’s literature to enjoy this book. Luckily for me I am a firm tick in both boxes and as such found this a delight to read.
Mangan takes a chronological approach, starting pretty much at birth and finishing in her teenage years. Her style is informal and witty – it feels as though a good friend is talking to you. She shares a fair amount of family history, often in a way that had me laughing out loud at her family and the deep love they have for each other, even if they don’t always understand each other. The star of the show here are absolutely the books she escaped into.
As she reflects she provides a careful mix of nostalgic recollections, analysis and in some instances historical context so that each chapter is so much more than a synopsis of the book. She is a also a strong proponent of rereading. This is something I had almost forgotten that I did as a child. I loved both some of the psychology behind that and the visceral memories her writing brought back of revisiting a beloved book and it’s world again.
I found the back stories to some of my favourites fascinating and suspect at some point it will send me down the rabbit hole of looking for biographies of some of the authors. The snippests she provdied added colour. I loved hearing about how the Borrowers world was created by it’s authors short sightedness or for example or how the Secret garden was published initially in a magazine for a much older audience. There was mental cheering when I found references to books I had forgotten but had once loved deeply, for example Topsy & Tim – although I was shaken to find this is now a children’s tv show! I also found myself nodding along to some of the same opinions I shared such as her thoughts on Laurie in Little Women and the occasionally problematic nature of some of Blyton’s work.
As the kid who had to be encouaged not to take a book to a party this was wonderful. It may appeal most to those who have a significant overlap with Mangan’s chosen favourites. Although even where I did not – for example never really having understood the fascination with pony books, there is still plenty to enjoy.
The inclusion of a detailed book list at the end is both inspired and likely to be expensive.
A Final Note
For a newer children’s novel than those here but that truly embraces the power of books I loved Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo