16th December

Elsie Oxenham was one of the Big Three school story writers in the early and middle part of the twentieth century, the others being Dorita Fairlie Bruce and Elinor Brent-Dyer of whom you will have already read! I collected her books for a long time after discovering them as a teenager. Much as I enjoyed reading them, there was something about many of them that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. And I am afraid that it was Elsie Oxenham’s unthinking snobbishness. In their attitude to class and wealth, they have dated much more than Dorita Fairlie Bruce’s or Elinor Brent-Dyer’s books. And yet they are still enjoyable. I recently decided to sell off my Oxenham collection, keeping only a few. And one of these is The Secrets of Vairy. It’s part of a small set of books related to the main Abbey series and is set on the west coast of Scotland. It’s a completely ridiculous story but I love the setting and the way the characters interact. I borrowed it from a fellow collector when I was sixteen and for years it was the Oxenham I aspired to own. Having waited so long for it, I have no intention of getting rid of it.

Airborn is a book I had to read whilst judging for the Carnegie Medal and my heart sank when I saw it. It appeared to be yet another sci-fi/fantasy mixture, two of my least favourite genres. But one should never, of course, judge a book by its cover and when I finally steeled myself to read it, I was enchanted. It’s set in an alternative past (it feels Edwardian) on an airship – a very enclosed community – and tells the story of Kate and Matt who are first-class passenger and crew. It’s a fast-paced adventure but it’s also a character study and has a great supporting cast. I use my story of discovering it when I’m helping children choose new authors. It’s always worth trying a new book.  You never know; it might become one of your fifty favourites!