book data
172 ratings,
3.93
average rating, 17 reviews
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published
November 1st 1990
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1906)
details
Paperback, 240 pages
isbn
0140183531
(isbn13: 9780140183535)
description
The magic of Puck transports little Una and Dan to centuries past, where they witness the making of myth and history, the heritage of England. Four 90…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 287)
All ratings
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5 stars (55)
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4 stars (60)
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3 stars (49)
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2 stars (6)
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1 star (2)
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avg 3.93
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
This is an odd book! Kipling presents us with two small children, Dan and Una, who meet Puck once their abbreviated outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream frees the good fellow from centuries of bondage in the hills. In a series of episodes Puck introduces Dan and Una to a variety of figures from different historical periods. Dan and Una are made to forget each encounter, but readers acquire a layered view of Britain's past and the diversity of people who over time have identified t...more
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This is charming English history for kids and people who have been taught history is boring.
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Read in July, 2009
I was intrigued by the references to this book in A. S. Byatt's new novel, The Children's Book, in which it figures importantly. And then, I saw it mentioned in A Walk Along The Wall by Hunter Davies. (Much of Kipling's book is set on Hadrian's wall.) So I tracked down a copy and read it, and it's quite marvelous. Probably would have given it five stars, except for some unfortunate lines about the Jews in the last chapter ( which do nothing more, really, than prove that the author was a child ...more
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Read in November, 2008
The one where two children meet Puck, the last fairy remaining in England, and he introduces them to dead Saxons, Normans, Romans, and stories that tell of British history.
Alas for period prejudices. The story starts with the tale of Weland Smith and the sword he made, and then introduces you to charming people from various historical periods, with mostly-lovely poetry between the sections -- and just about the time you're going, "Oh, ooh, all this is going to add up to the Magn...more
Alas for period prejudices. The story starts with the tale of Weland Smith and the sword he made, and then introduces you to charming people from various historical periods, with mostly-lovely poetry between the sections -- and just about the time you're going, "Oh, ooh, all this is going to add up to the Magn...more
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3 comments
Read in January, 2008
The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they could remember of Midsummer Night's Dream.”
So begins a time of magic for Dan and Una. It was Midsummer’s Eve and the children have performed the play three times, unwittingly, inside a fairy ring near their home in Sussex. The summoning calls up the mischievous Puck, the last of the People of the Hill left in merry old England. Puck gives them the gift “to see what they shall see and hear what they shall hea...more
So begins a time of magic for Dan and Una. It was Midsummer’s Eve and the children have performed the play three times, unwittingly, inside a fairy ring near their home in Sussex. The summoning calls up the mischievous Puck, the last of the People of the Hill left in merry old England. Puck gives them the gift “to see what they shall see and hear what they shall hea...more
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Rudyard Kipling's take on English history for kids, this is a set of stories about historical figures, retold as good yarns. :) A lot of deep devotion to the roots of England, but mostly doesn't come off as overly chauvinistic. In fact, Kipling's treatment of a Jewish character late in the book surprised me--very, very sympathetic for the times he was writing in.
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Read in February, 2009
Two early 20th century children, living in Pevensey, England, have a chance encounter with the legendary Puck, who undertakes to bring them a series of first hand accounts of the history of their region. Fun combination of fact and fancy.
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This is the first book that made history seem like a continuity rather than a collection of interesting but discrete stories.
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Read in January, 1965
This was one of my father's favorite childhood books. He read it aloud to us when I was a little too old for it.
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Read in May, 2008
"'Now are you two lawfully seized and possess of all Old England,' began Puck, in a sing-song voice. 'By right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free to come and go and look and know where I shall show or best you please. You shall see What you shall see and you shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three thousand year; and you shall know neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.'"
"Puck of Pook's Hill" features a different setting ...more
"Puck of Pook's Hill" features a different setting ...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Q: Do you like Kipling? A: I don't know I've never kippled...
Read it in the context of a composition date of 1906 or so, and see what a really wide and glorious view of the full range of good humans Kipling espoused. There's room for anyone with a caring heart in his story of the making of England: Normans, Picts, Bee Boys and more....
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Read a children's book by a man who did not talk down to children "Farewell, rewards and fairies, good housemaids now may say, for now foul sluts in dairies, do fare as well as they..."
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Dad read it to me as a child - sparked my love of all things both historical and English phase.
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