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September - The Blogging Month

 Welcome, Readers! During the next few weeks, you can expect to find a blog post popping up every Monday to Friday. This is because September is full of brilliant bookish adventures, be that as a reader or as a writer, and we are so excited to be sharing them with you. We're dedicating September to new stories, old classics, timeless adventures, and promising tales. Here are the things you can look forward to: 16th September - the launch of All the Time in the World  by Elizabeth McKay. This is the story of Jake and Abi, a brother and sister who stumble into a realm where time is not measured in the usual way, but where there are those who seek to control it for their own ends. 30th September - our tenth Crowvus Ghost Story Competition . Have you got a spooky story to share? Can you write a haunting tale in 4,000 words or less? This year is a big one so, in addition to publication, we're including a small monetary prize for all the shortlisted stories. For all the Ts&Cs, h...
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Book Review: The Stranger of Wigglesworth - Colby Hess

Blurb:

The arrival of a mysterious stranger in the happy village of Giggleswick causes a schism that disrupts their innocent, carefree existence. A brave, clever, freethinking boy then sets off on a quest to reveal the stranger’s deception and rescue his fellow villagers.


Review:


This is the story of how a stranger appears and starts telling happy, content people that they'll be more happy and content if they live their lives his way. When they refuse, things start going wrong in their joyful little village of Giggleswick. But all is not as it seems... there is a darker force at work!


I thoroughly enjoyed it. To me, it had elements of The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, both in content and style. The story is written in a kind of gentle poetry which is more about rhythm than rhyme and that makes it a wonderful thing to read aloud.

The Stranger of Wigglesworth is a picture book for older children. It states clearly on the cover that it is for Ages 6-11, and it's important to keep this in mind when reading it. There are a lot of words in here which littler children wouldn't understand, and some parts of the story are very dark. The only slight issue I had with it was that, on one single occasion, the illustrations got so dark that I struggled to see what was happening, but that didn't spoil the overall reading experience for me.

This is a book to be read aloud where possible - and definitely one to be shared!

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