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The Dragonfly Pool

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 · rating details · 1,631 ratings · 280 reviews

Tally Hamilton is furious to hear she is being sent from London to a horrid, stuffy boarding school in the countryside. And all because of the stupid war. But Delderton Hall is a far more" "unusual and " interesting" place than Tally ever imagined, and she soon falls in love with its eccentric staff and pupils. Now she's even organizing an exciting school trip to the kingd...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published May 2nd 2008 by MacMillan Children's Books

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Mar 17, 2009 Tanja rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have read many books by Eva Ibbotson. She almost always has a female character that is innately good. She affects others by her lack of knowing how great she really is and she can move people to action. What I liked about this book is it came about because of Eva's own experience at bording school. The main character goes off to school and it is a very unusual school. Tally soon learns what kinds of horrors war can bring. I like this book and I think I liked it better because I listened to it....more

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Dec 03, 2008 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Delightful! This was classic Ibbotson and was a perfect comfort read for me. I listened to this on audio and I found myself taking the long way home and doing extra chores just to keep listening. Ibbotson has a charming old-fashioned feel to her stories that I adore. This book is peopled with wonderful characters, both children and adults, who quite firmly know what is right and what should be fought for. The humor is wonderful and the "progressive" school not only made my smile but also made me...more

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Nov 06, 2008 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

To read a book that is pure pleasure is a gift, particularly when you've been reading a lot of so-so or merely okay books for a while. My history with Eva Ibbotson has been a kind of stilted one. As a librarian I've shelved her fantasies on a regular basis. As a reader I tasted one of her realistic stories ( The Star of Kazan) and one of her more imaginative flights of fancy ( Island of the Aunts). And I did like them both, but that was all. I "liked" them. I didn't love them, look forward to go...more To read a book that is pure pleasure is a gift, particularly when you've been reading a lot of so-so or merely okay books for a while. My history with Eva Ibbotson has been a kind of stilted one. As a librarian I've shelved her fantasies on a regular basis. As a reader I tasted one of her realistic stories ( The Star of Kazan) and one of her more imaginative flights of fancy ( Island of the Aunts). And I did like them both, but that was all. I "liked" them. I didn't love them, look forward to going back to them, or think about them in my spare time. They were fine and they were good and they were completely insufficient when it came to preparing me for The Dragonfly Pool. This book has all the cleverness and charm of her previous books. But rather than indulge in a steady slow-building charm, the text in this book dives right for your throat from the start and clasps you tight for the rest of the tale. If you've never read an Ibbotson before, I suspect that here would be an excellent place to start. She has gripping kid-friendly writing down to an art.

Tally, as it turns out, is the last to know. When her hard-working but penniless father tells his daughter that she has a chance to attend a progressive boarding school called Delderton, Tally is miserable at the thought. Leave all her friends and family for some school outside of London where she knows no one? The world is on the brink of WWII and it's no wonder that Tally's father is inclined to get her out of town. Once at the school, however, the girl finds herself greatly enjoying herself, learning the strengths and secrets of the kids around her. And when a chance comes to start a folkdancing group and perform in the little nation of Bergania, nothing could be sweeter. While there she even manages to strike up a friendship with the crown prince Karil. Bergania is one of the few European nations unwilling to submit to Hitler and his demands, and when tragedy strikes it's up to Tally to help Karil any way she can and up to Karil to determine once and for all what it is he would like to be as a person.

The publishing blog Pub Rants once proffered a piece of writing advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since; "writers should not mistake voice for character development." Easier said than done. Ibbotson certain has voice down, but character development. . . . character development she has DOWN down, man! Example A: Consider the description of Tally's personality. A mediocre writer would say that she was strong and show one scene involving personal strength, leaving it at that. A better writer would be subtle and let Tally's strength emerge and surface as a natural part of the text. And then there is Eva Ibbotson. She wants to make it clear that Tally has a clear view of purpose and commitment. So how exactly do you show that? You throw in small unforgettable details alongside the naturally emerging strengths. You mention that her grandmother spent a lot of her time washing the socks of beggars, and that it takes a certain amount of character and determination to get those socks OFF of the beggars' feet first. Details such as this do not grow on trees. They don't grow in the brains of many writers either, for that matter.

I've often thought that class is to England what race is to America. This isn't to say that America can't be classist and England can't be racist (racism and classism are horribly universal in that sense), but we've very different histories in both areas. In the case of this book, class is a constant companion to Tally. Her father is a good doctor who would rather cure a patient than make a quick buck, and as a result he doesn't make a lot of money. Karil is royalty, a fact that allows him to fit in perfectly in British society since he is considered of great quality (in spite of the fact that the family loses money like water through a sieve). Another offspring of classism is where you chose to send your children to school. Hence Delderton becomes a kind of anti-boarding school. It is said that the actress Tilda Swinton refuses to act in the Harry Potter movies because they romanticize the boarding school experience. Whether you consider that to be true or not, they certainly make schools with houses and colors and sports sound neat. As a progressive school Ibbotson cleverly makes it clear why it is that Tally much prefers Delderton, where she might stifle (or at the very least be unhappy) at a posh prep school elsewhere. And on the bookflap of this title Ibbotson notes that Delderton was modeled after the real school Dartington that she attended when she was young, pet hut and all.

The temptation when you read a book like this is to suddenly try to sell it to your fellows with grabby sentences like, "Eva Ibbotson! Now with Nazis!" Now I am German. German roots run thick in my blood on my paternal grandmother's side, and it has always kind of bugged me how children's authors tackle the German people during WWII. Generally it's just easier to make everyday Germans out to be Nazis, except for anyone Jewish of course. This is just a smidgen insulting and never fails to raise my hackles when I come across it. Now consider the Dragonfly Pool take. Not only are there good Germans here, but they also come up in a variety of different manners. There are the German folkdancing children who are described as being anything but Hitler Youth (and who consequently are sent back home for this very flaw). There is the teacher at Delderton who loves a German man, one that actually is drafted to fight for his country but isn't villanized for it. It's rather impressive, really. We don't usually consider Ibbotson the kind of author who takes risks, but little moments like these would be avoided entirely by a weaker, lesser writer.

And . . . and . . . and . . . well let's just get past all the hoopla and rigmarole I've written here and speak truth to power: Ibbotson is just a really remarkably writer. Look, I've even highlighted a passage in the book that I took delicious delight in (little knowing how important it would turn out to be later in the story): "Prince Dmitri's mother, the old Princess Natalia, brought a small, low-slung dog with a topknot and an ancient pedigree. Pom-Pom was descended from a long line of Outer Mongolian pedestal (or snuggle) dogs, which had been bred to warm the feet of the Great Khans in their drafty palaces and now wheezed through the corridors of Rottingdene House, seeking the dark, familiar world of legs and shoes and toes." Somewhere in the world they may try to teach children's authors how to write sentences like this. They may, but I can't help but think it takes a very particular, very rare talent to conjure up such stuff, let alone make it so interesting to read. The use of "low-slung" is particularly delicious, I think.

The craziest thing about this book, to me anyway, was that I never knew where it was going. I always enjoyed the ride, but when I expected the plot to make an expected turn to the right, suddenly it would dash off hell-for-leather to the left, leaving me panting in its wake. So I have a suggestion on how to use this book in school. Teachers who read it in class, a chapter at a time, should ask the class after each reading to predict where it's going to go. These predictions should be recorded and retained throughout the story so that the kids get a sense of how to plot a story, the amount of work that goes into making it hold together in a coherent fashion, etc. They could even write their own chapters each time! An ultimate writing assignment that is actually fun waits in the pages of this book.

If you are looking for a book to assign in a bookgroup or a title that would work brilliantly in discussion, if you need a story to readaloud to a group, a title to recommend to a bright kid who prefers a little realism, or a novel that is simply pure enjoyment on the page, The Dragonfly Pool is something to consider. Little wonder that the image on the cover gleams in iridescent colors; this book is a gem. A wonderful introduction to Ibbotson for the uninitiated, and a joyful discovery for those readers already under her sway.

Ages 8-12.(less)

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Mar 15, 2013 Lahari rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, my-favorites

a. Historical Fiction

b. 377 pgs.

c. Tally Hamilton is sent off to boarding school as World War II starts in Europe. At first, Tally thinks she'll hate Delderton, but soon discovers that it's a magical place. A different type of school, where biology teachers wake you up at 4:00 in the morning to take a hike down to the river. Tally soon makes a lot of friends, and finds out different things about all of them. Like how Kit just wants to go to a school wear they have prefects and play cricket. When...more

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Jan 03, 2013 NTE rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favs, authors-i-autobuy, awesome-cover, childrens, clever, different, feminist-in-the-making, middle-grade-fic, superhero-ine, world-builders, keepers

There's something about the style in which this book is written that is... comfortingly old-fashioned. I don't just mean that the story is historical fantasy (although it is, set during the run up to, outbreak of, and in the midst of WWII), it's that everything from the characters to the tone of the tale are all very charmingly written. The heroine, Tally, is one of those super-kind, everybody loves her and she loves everybody characters that usually gets on my nerves to the point that I can't f...more

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May 02, 2012 Libby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-fiction, historical-fiction

When World War II threatens the people of London, Tally’s father and her aunts insist that she attend a boarding school in the country. Tally does not want to leave her family and go to a stuffy boarding school, but she is soon caught in the spell of Delderton. This is a boarding school where children are encouraged to ‘find themselves and be themselves.’ No one is forced to wear uniforms or even attend class.

With the friends Tally meets, she organizes a group to attend an international folk dan...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Beth Bonini rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel for older children -- 11 to 13 is probably the ideal age, but my almost 14 year old loved it -- is a good example of the Ibbotson oeuvre. I was working on a unit of Ibbotson books, and having read about seven of them in a row (not to mention those I've read in the past), a clear pattern of "Ibbotson values" emerged. For instance: Love of the environment, the importance of friendship, displaced or orphaned persons (the search for a home is a major theme), standing up to bullies, being...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Cat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library264

Title: The Dragonfly Pool
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Year: 2008
ISBN: 9780230704589
Type: Book
Genre: Semi Historical Fiction
Length/Pages & Reading: 416 pages; 12 and up
Publisher/Studio name: Macmillan Children’s Books
Plot: The story takes place in 1939 and centers on a young girl whose life is going well. Then, due to safety concerns owing to the Nazis, she is sent to a boarding school. She school turns out not to be what she expected and she ends up thriving and making friends and positively impactin...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-to-buy, historical-fiction

Eva Ibbotson is one of my favorite authors - her stories have always been interesting and deal greatly with WWII. Her writing style is also very enjoyable and not overly-modern. The writing of this particular book was fun. It was slightly light-hearted and comical, though serious in the parts it needed to be.

Tally is yet another main female character that I have grown to like. Her stubbornness does not get in the way of anything or cause problems like most stubborn heroines. And she adapts to si...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Catherine Woodman added it · review of another edition

This is an interesting new book by a seasoned children's book writer that is loosely tied to her own experience in WWII. The book takes place in three separate sections, which makes it almost "normal" rather than a book where awful things happen--so while it is within the context of WWII, it largely skirts the difficult issues of the day and keeps the story at a kids eye view. Tally is a good kid in a great family, who's father wants to get her a broader education and shelter her from the encroa...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Creativity's Corner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction, middle-grade

Review originally posted on my blog, Creativity's Corner [creativityscorner.blogspot.com]

First let me just say that this book was not at all what I expected. I picked it up because I have been hearing many good things about Eva Ibbotson for a while now but I had not yet run into one of her books in a library. Though I had never heard of this title specifically, I read the book jacket and thought I might like it - after all between Tally being shipped off during the air raids of WWII and the made...more Review originally posted on my blog, Creativity's Corner [creativityscorner.blogspot.com]

First let me just say that this book was not at all what I expected. I picked it up because I have been hearing many good things about Eva Ibbotson for a while now but I had not yet run into one of her books in a library. Though I had never heard of this title specifically, I read the book jacket and thought I might like it - after all between Tally being shipped off during the air raids of WWII and the made up country it sounded rather like the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of my favorite young adult/children's novels. It's not like that at all. There's only just enough similarities there to write the book jacket so it sounds similar, and that's where it ends.

That said, I didn't think it was a bad book. It was well written, if for a much younger audience, and it had some good points to make (or at least one good point, but I'll get to that later). I also really enjoyed the characters. In one way it feels almost like she was challenged to draw a certain number of characters out of a hat and make them all make sense in a story together. I can just see her staring at slips of paper (with characters like ex-model, German philosopher/biographer, ex-spy, tree-hugger, and hoity-toity Duke that's related to everyone) and pulling her hair out trying to write something other than a murder mystery novel that would still make sense. She pulled it off wonderfully. The level of detail is what makes the characters work. I absolutely love that she tells us Tally is "stubborn as her Grandmother, who used to convince tramps on the Tube to let her wash their socks," instead of just telling us she was stubborn. These details make the characters so real that even though the country and school are made up, you really believe that these people actually lived during the war and you're rooting for them the entire way. But the really astonishing thing about her characters is that they're written in the way the audience would see them. The characters are real - you get to know them like real people - and yet they have that simple quality that a kid's view always seems to have. Mom is just "Mom," the teachers sleep in the closets at school at night (heaven forbid they have families of their own) and the cashiers at the grocery store are just droids that don't need food. If you (at age 7) ever thought about it, you would have realized that Mom has friends, your teachers are people too and every once in a while you'll see the cashiers do their shopping too, but you really, honestly never think about it when you're that small. Ms. Ibbotson somehow manages to capture that and convey it, until even the older readers with (perhaps) a wider world view find themselves falling into the old habit.

If I had to find something I disliked about the book (and I suppose I must, as it wasn't my favorite book ever and I should probably have a reason why) it would have to be that the book was almost too strongly aimed at one thing. It was aimed at one specific audience and made very few allowances for any other audiences - as a 21-year-old I had a lot of difficulty staying interested through certain points, simply because I no longer relate to that age group. Similarly, I found that the book was far too narrowly aimed at what I shall call "the moral" for lack of a better word. Every character has a different story, but every single one of them has the same moral - people are people, no matter what titles they are given or how much money they have (an interesting moral considering the above-mentioned writing style). Some writers can pull it off - John Green does it all the time - but I felt like she just went through her characters and said "how can this one prove my point? And how can this one prove my point slightly differently?" There were times I just wanted to scream "We get it already!!!" The thing is, the main problem there isn't the way she wrote. It's the fact that I am 21 and have taken several courses in Literature Analysis. When I was the same age as her intended audience, I would have loved the book with no reservations.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I would definitely recommend this to anyone between 8 and 12 that could handle reading this thick of a book. It's a good read that is well written and has a good message. Older readers? I'd pass. Unless you're really into the younger literature, you won't be able to see past the style to the fun story that's there underneath. (less)

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Apr 21, 2011 Alex Baugh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: world-war-2

Eva Ibbotson was an unusual writer. She didn’t begin publishing children’s books until she was 50 and, she didn’t publish The Dragonfly Pool until she was 83. In addition, because of her own unhappy childhood, she had penchant for happy endings.

Yet, when I first began reading The Dragonfly Pool, I didn’t think I would like it. But I was wrong. The story begins in London, in the spring of 1939. Everyone is preparing for the expected war, and the Hamilton household is no different. Tally Hamilton...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Sandra Stiles rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grades, adventure, historical-fiction

Tally is living in 1939 London and Hitler is on the move. With this threat looming, Tally's father decides to send Tally to a school far away. She has always been an obedient daughter and doesn't want to create anymore pain for her father so she goes. Her father, a doctor is well respected in the area because he is one of the best yet treats the poor no different than he would treat the rich. The difference is they have very little money. His brother, also a successful doctor and his wife recomm...more Tally is living in 1939 London and Hitler is on the move. With this threat looming, Tally's father decides to send Tally to a school far away. She has always been an obedient daughter and doesn't want to create anymore pain for her father so she goes. Her father, a doctor is well respected in the area because he is one of the best yet treats the poor no different than he would treat the rich. The difference is they have very little money. His brother, also a successful doctor and his wife recommend that he send Tally to school with their daughter. It is considered one of the top schools in the country. Tally begs her father not to send her to such a snobby place. She ends up at Delderton a progressive school where each child is allowed to pursue their own line and way of learning. Tally is unlike many of the children. The headmaster describes her as "a girl who wants to make the world a better place". After going to the movies with her friend Julia and watching a newsreel on Bergania she is filled with admiration for the King of that country for standing up to Hitler. When the opportunity to visit that country to participate in a Folk Dance Festival she pushes everyone into creating a dance so that they may participate. Little did she know when she went that she would meet and become friends with the Prince. There is no way she could know that she would play a part in his survival when his father is killed.
One of my favorite characters to hate was Carlotta. She was the daughter of a Prince and the cousin to Prince Karil. She was being groomed to be his wife one day. He hated her snobbery. She and Tally's cousin Margaret would have gotten along famously. They liked to drop names all of the time. It reminded me of a time I taught in an international school. I taught English and Science and happened to have the son of a music star. He didn't do his work. After the third missed assignment I told him I would have to contact his father. He looked at me and laughed and said, "Do you know who I am"? I never cracked a smile as I said, "Yes, you are one of my students that I have been charged with teaching. I also know who your father is and know that he will not be pleased with such a call." He didn't believe me. We (the administration and myself) made the call and his father put him on a one month probation and if he had not brought his grades up then he would be sent back to England. He didn't believe him. He didn't do the work and his father pulled him back. He felt if the wasn't willing to be serious about his studies then there was no reason for him to waste money on his son's education in another country. Name dropping never did anything for me. I was not awed and I was not intimidated. It might have something to do with growing up in a family where my father was a gospel singer. I loved meeting these people I admired but did not worship them. I felt sorry for Karil who was in a family where appearances were everything. It wasn't enough he'd lost both parents and his country, he was losing his identity by being forced to live a life he didn't agree with. This is a definite must read book. I had it in e-book form but will definitely have several copies on my shelf this fall. I have always loved Eva Ibbotson's books and this one was one of the best I have ever read.(less)

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May 20, 2010 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was fairly enjoyable, but I had to give it 2 stars simply because it was so incredibly similar to "A Song for Summer." Tally goes to a progressive school where the dance teacher has the children give birth to themselves and pretend to be forks. Sound familiar? It's nearly word-for-word identical to Ibbotson's previous work.

Having said that, this book has all the pieces that make Ibbotson's work so enjoyable; beautiful writing, a well-developed cast of secondary characters, lovingly des...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, boarding-school, made-up-european-kingdoms, war-ww2, friendship, country-england, author-eva-ibbotson

Absolutely loved it. :D Delightful characters and setting and a thoroughly exciting story. Actually it has a few similarities with A Song for Summer - both are set in a "progressive" school, both set during the second World War, etc - but where A Song For Summer was frightfully dull and a chore to slog through, The Dragonfly Pool is easily one of Ibbotson's most charming stories.

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Dec 20, 2008 Mara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, friendship, historical-fiction, nature, school, wwii, royalty, middle-grade

The king of a Bergania (a fictional country, though one that seems a lot like Switzerland) refuses to allow Hitler's troops to march through his country. Seeing this on a newreel at the movies, Tally is struck by his courage, and also interested in the prince, who's face she can't really see, obscured as it is by the plumes from his helmet. When the headmaster of Delderton (her boarding school) brings up an invitation to go to Bergania to participate in a folk dancing festival, Tally jumps at th...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Griselda Heppel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tally is a strong, kind, self-reliant 11 year-old girl who, much to her indignation, finds herself packed off to boarding school in the countryside to escape the threat of war in 1939 London. Her snooty, well-off cousins who already attend smart schools make her dread the experience but Delderton Hall turns out to be in a league of its own: eccentric, untidy and inspiring, a place where a science lesson means hunting for water voles and watching otters groom themselves in the early morning sun....more

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May 11, 2009 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5th-grade, 6th-grade, 7th-grade, j-fic-historical, j-fic-girl, j-fic-adventure

Tally is an exceptional girl who belongs to an exceptional family living in London. With the threat of WWII looming, when her father gets an offer of a scholarship to boarding school in the country, he jumps at the chance to get Tally out of harms way. Of course, she does not want to go, but once she gets there, Tally finds that the school fits her like a 2nd skin. After seeing an advertisement for the small country of Bergania, Tally feels she must go there. For there is a king who has defied H...more

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Apr 01, 2010 Pamela Huxtable rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kid-s, wwii

This was a lovely, old fashioned story. The story follows Tally, a girl from London whose father sends her to a "progressive" boarding school when England declares war on Germany at the start of the Second World War. Tally, although apprehensive about attending school far away from her family, soon adapts and grows to love her school and thrive under its unconventional tutelage.

The children at the boarding school, at Tally's urging, attend a folk dance festival in the fictional country of Bergan...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Cathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, lower-grade, upper-grade

12-year-old Tally knows the war between Hitler and Britain will begin soon and she wants to do everything she can to help. When her father secures a scholarship for her to attend boarding school in the countryside, Tally is at first dismayed she'll have to leave her father and aunts. She soon learns that Delderton, a hippie-ish "free school" where children are not forced to wear uniforms or even attend classes, is an amazing place where she begins to discover who she is. What starts off as a sch...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-books

Tally is a young girl who doesn't want to go off to boarding school at Delterton. But once she arrives, she sees that this boarding school is nothing like she imagined. She makes great friends. Then she meets Karil, the Prince of Bergania (spelling? I listened to this.) She and other children want him to come to their boarding school and he wants to...but many obstacles stand in his way.

It also weaves in a little bit of WWII...but with few of the horrors.

I liked this and would almost give it a 4...more

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Jun 11, 2009 Susan P rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: j-fiction, potential-booktalks

Eva Ibbotson is so great! This reminded me a lot of her "Star of Kazan", but since I love that book too, I didn't mind this. Just as WWII is breaking out, Tally's father sends her away from London to a boarding school in the country, where he hopes she'll be safer. There she makes some wonderful friends, and ends up being part of a troupe of dancers that go to a festival in the country of Bergania to perform at a festival. Bergania has so far remained neutral during the war, but Hitler and his m...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Charming! Although I usually prefer books where the lines between the good guys and the bad guys are a bit fuzzy (don't we all have a bit of darkness in us?), sometimes it's refreshing to read a book where the characters are just inherently good. Despite the fact that the backdrop for the story is rather sad (the outbreak of WWII and the events that surround Karil's family), the book is full of characters that are just nice, kind people trying to find ways to survive in a world that sometimes is...more

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Jul 30, 2008 Deborah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-books

surprisingly awful,especially given that it was partially based on ibbotson's own childhood experiences. it offers badly rehashed themes from ibbotson's other (better) books and unintentionally trivializes war with its simplistic characters and almost unbelievable naivette.

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Apr 28, 2012 Ranee Clark rated it 3 of 5 stars

"The Dragonfly Pool" is classic Ibbotson: very descriptive. She's good at working it beautifully into the plot, but it can still get dull at times. I picked up "The Dragonfly Pool" because it's centered around World War II, which I'm always interested in. The one odd thing about this book is that it didn't seem to have a climax, though the story still flowed well. I especially enjoyed the epilogue, because I adore it when authors tie up my characters lives for me. It's not one of my favorite of...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Helen Byrne added it

This is a romantic adventure set against the backdrop of WW2. The main character of the story is Tally Hamilton who is furious when she is sent from London to Delderton Hall, a horrible, stuffy boarding school in the countryside because of the war. When she gets there, it is a more interesting place than she had ever imagined. An exciting school trip to the beautiful kingdom of Bergania takes Tally on an unexpected adventure with a normal little boy who happens to be the Prince of Bergania. The...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: grades 5-8

Recommended to Sarah by: historical list

Shelves: children-historical, audio

Eleven-year-old Tally doesn’t want to go to a far away “progressive” boarding school, but she agrees to go, understanding that her father wants her to be safe if England really does enter the war against Hitler. Much to her surprise, she finds that she really enjoys the school and the other students.

Meanwhile, Prince Karil of (the imaginary country) Bergania dislikes his royal life more than ever. All he wants in life is to be free; that is, do what he wants and to have real friends. When studen...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

I was prepared to really love this book based on the recommendation of friends, but in the end I can only say that I liked it.

I loved the characters (especially Tally and Matteo) but I never felt like they were fully developed. I love the boarding school aspect, but in the end it simply felt like a means to get Tally to Bergania. And speaking of Bergania, Ibbotson didn't do a good enough job of making it feel like a real country. I was never able to fully buy in to the premise of the story.

How...more

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Jan 22, 2009 Kristen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, youngadult

A stunning look at WWII from the point of view of a British girl sent to a school in the countryside so as to protect her from the war. The school is progressive and she finds herself convincing her fellow students to travel to a country in Europe whose king has openly spoke against Hitler and made him unable to enter the small country. There is an assassination and the sudden need to help a prince escape from the country.

I'm not sure why I loved this book so much, I believe it was the characte...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Kit rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. It's on my list of "books that make me feel like the Harry Potter books do" despite it's setting in a more-or-less real World War II era Europe with no magic. For one thing, Tally and her classmates go to the most wonderful boarding school ever - picture Hogwarts with no Snape, Filch, or Mrs. Norris to spoil things. For another, their heartfelt fight against the forces of evil is every bit as high-stakes and heartwrenching as Harry and his friends'. Ibbotson is a gr...more

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About Eva Ibbotson

Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduat...more Eva Ibbotson (born Maria Charlotte Michelle Wiesner, 1925, Vienna, Austria) was a British novelist specializing in romance and children's fantasy. Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1925. When Hitler came into power, Ibbotson's family moved to England. She attended Bedford College, graduating in 1945; Cambridge University from 1946-47; and the University of Durham, from which she graduated with a diploma in education in 1965. Ibbotson had intended to be a physiologist, but was put off by the amount of animal testing that she would have to do. Instead, she married and raised a family, returning to school to become a teacher in the 1960's. Ibbotson was widowed with three sons and a daughter.

Ibottson began writing with the television drama Linda Came Today, in 1965. Ten years later, she published her first novel, The Great Ghost Rescue. Ibbotson has written numerous books including The Secret of Platform 13, Journey to the River Sea, Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, and Dial-a-Ghost. She won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Journey to the River Sea, and has been a runner up for many of major awards for British children's literature. The books are imaginative and humorous, and most of them feature magical creatures and places, despite the fact that she disliked thinking about the supernatural, and created the characters because she wanted to decrease her readers' fear of such things. Some of the books, particularly Journey to the River Sea, also reflect Ibbotson's love of nature. Ibbotson wrote this book in honor of her husband (who had died just before she wrote it), a former naturalist. The book had been in her head for years before she actually wrote it. Ibbotson said she dislikes "financial greed and a lust for power" and often creates antagonists in her books who have these characteristics. Some have been struck by the similarity of "Platform 9 3/4" in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books to Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13, which came out three years before the first Harry Potter book.

Her love of Austria is evident in works such as The Star Of Kazan and A Song For Summer. These books, set primarily in the Austrian countryside, display the author's love for nature and all things natural.

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“You cannot stop the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can stop them nesting in your hair.” — 20 people liked it

“Just because we've never done it doesn't mean we can't do it.” — 5 people liked it

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