Attica

by Garry Kilworth

Overview

A novel with echoes of timeless classics such as THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, THE BORROWERS and ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Garry Kilworth's ATTICA reveals a twilight world of forgotten wonders, and extraordinary adventures - all happening just above our heads. Join Jordy, Alex and Chloe as they cross the portal from our world to a strange and wonderful other place, accessible for just a moment in time through the trap-door of the attic in their family home. From hat-stand forests, to towering hills of old musical instruments, deserts of old books and a great water-tank lake, the vast continent they stumble upon is one of limitless surprises - and that's before they meet the inhabitants: strange clans of small and lumpen people who live in homes constructed from all manner of found things and drive vehicles powered by old sewing-machine parts. It is against this remarkable backdrop that the three children will embark on a spellbinding adventure to recover a prized possession, save a life, and - somehow - find a way back home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405528283
Publisher:	Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date:	04/04/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	313 KB
Age Range:	9 - 11 Years

About the Author

Twice shortlisted for the Carnegie prize, world-travelling Garry Kilworth has written a number of acclaimed and much-loved stories for children.

Editorial Reviews

Innovative fantasy adventure . . . a rare find.

Booklist

New stepsiblings Jordy, Chloe and Alex move into a duplex landlorded by initially crotchety Mr. Grantham. When the children venture into the attic to find Grantham's pocket watch, they find a vast world that they dub Attica. Together (and apart) they explore a dark world of animated cast-off junk, talking vermin and small, silent indigenous people. Other lost children from the past have gone native and obsessively collect specific types of items. On the quest for the watch, which becomes a search for a way home, the adventurers encounter scissor-birds, animated mannequins, vengeful voodoo effigies and the sinister protectors of Attica the Removal Firm. Published in 2006 across the pond, this British import suffers from an overabundance of detail and a truly leaden pace. The children accept their strange milieu far too readily, and though their difficulties are often interesting and imaginative, they are never very-well, difficult. Diehard fans of British fantasy may enjoy this coincidence-filled entry in the parallel-magical-world subgenre, but it is not for every collection. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

This book is reminiscent of Narnia with its alternative, magical world. A fantastic read that will have imaginations working overtime—The Bookseller

An excellent book, good and original and, in all the best ways, strange—Neil Gaiman

Kilworth sends his fully dimensional characters on an exhilarating adventure—Booklist

One to watch. The book belongs in the mainstream of children's literature and has the ingredients to make it an 'adventure in the attic—classic’

From the Publisher