Orla and the tangled woods
Anna Hoghton: Orla and the Wild Hunt (Chicken House 2022) Orla and her younger brother Apollo have recently lost their mother. It seems to have turned her world inside out and upside down. Orla hopes that when they visit their grandmother in Ireland, everything will be the way it used to be. Unfortunately, she must be wrong, because their gran is behaving strangely: she hides something in the garden shed, locks all the windows and doors and forbids them to go out after dark, even though she herself leaves the house. Could these strange things have something to do with the disappearances? When their gran also disappears, it is Orla and Apollo’s turn to take control, put aside their grief and anger, and together find their gran before it is too late… The story draws from Irish-Celtic mythology, bringing its elements into our modern world. However, its main theme is…
Orla and the witchcraft
C. J. Haslam: Orla and the Serpent’s Curse (Walker Books 2020) C. J. Haslam: Orla and the Magpie’s Kiss (Walker Books 2022) Orla arrives in Cornwall on a family holiday with her mother, brothers, Richard and Tom, and their Jack Russell terrier, Dave. But the trip quickly takes a bizarre turn when Orla discovers that the area holds a sinister secret and begins dreaming about a crow. It turns out that Orla is the only chance for Cornwall, and perhaps the entire world. And she has to hurry. Luckily, the family’s close protection specialist and head of household security is always by her side: Dave, The Dog. Orla is an adroit girl, but she always gets into trouble. She doesn’t look for trouble, but it always finds her. She’s a strange child, but she’s kind-hearted and a true explorer. My favorite character, however, is definitely Dave, who sometimes gives us…
In the Shadow of Man
Jane Goodall: In the Shadow of Man (Collins Sons and Co. 1971) In memory of Jane Goodall, I would like to recommend one of her books. Jane Goodall was born in London in 1934. For her second birthday, her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee. Several of the family’s friends were afraid that the child would have nightmares from it, but Jane kept the toy for the rest of her life. She loved animals from an early age and, after finishing high school and a secretarial course, she began working for the archaeologist-anthropologist Louis Leakey in Kenya. He suggested that archaeological finds could be better interpreted by observing the behavior of modern great apes. This is how Jane Goodall began observing chimpanzees near the Gombe stream. (Interestingly, it was at Leakey’s encouragement that Diane Fossey – observing mountain gorillas – and Birute Galdikas – observing orangutans in Borneo – also…