The Camera Obscura

by Hugh Scott

Tres buscapleitos de la escuela le hacen la vida imposible al débil Spindletrim Tom, e incluso se aventuran en su la extraña tienda de antiguedades en la que vive con su abuelo. Después de una golpiza que le propinan, su abuelo decide que es hora de revelarle un extraordinario secreto. Así, Spindletrim Tom descubre algo que lo vuele más fuerte que los buscapleitos.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 1990

About the author

Biography

I love cats. I love their beautiful faces and ickle tickly tums. I have been owned by many cats, but now only a visiting ginger tom declares possession of me. I don't read my books to him, because he's into mice and sardines in tomato sauce, not spooks and crooks and flukes of nature, or even unnature such as the mighty Gargoyle or the dreadful creeping creature which is Something Watching. My proudest book, of course, is Why Weeps the Brogan? Which won the Children's Whitbread in 1989 and was shortlisted for the McVitie Prize. The Haunted Sand was shortlisted for something, but I can't remember what; it came second to a book that wasn't too bad, I suppose. I love good English; I can't stand sloppy modern drip-speak innit? wot books 'ave as written language, and which supposedly reflects the way kids spea. I don't mind a bit of rebellion in language, but dumb brainless Me am de man is pure stupidity and totally rebarbative in a language which has hundreds of thousands of words which cretins are too lazy to look up and use with clarity and power. To all the worm-brains who think bad spelling, ignorance and foul words make them better than other people, I say buy a dictionary.
Current events and projects

I talk to schools and writing groups about how to write.

Reviews

[Darío Escobedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever read.

[Cristina RS · Rating 2 out of 5]

No tiene sentido. No sé por qué, si sea solo yo, pero nunca le encontré sentido, las cosas pasaban de repente. Creo que podría haber sido bueno si tantas cosas bizarras tuvieran un buen mensaje final. Pero no lo tuvo. Llegó a tener algunas frases que me gustaban pero no llega a ser célebre. Y también tiene varias tramas abiertas que nunca exploraron después de mencionarlas.

[Woff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strange little book. I’m not entirely sure what happened or what we’re supposed to take away from it - was the message that bullied kids are just narrow minded?!

[Nekopau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tengo que admitir que el autor supo transmitir muy certeramente la crudeza del acoso escolar. Uno puede sentirse como Splindletrim Tom y temer realmente a los bullies. Sin embargo el salto hacia la parte surrealista no tiene una transición consistente, y aunque la habilidad recién adquirida del protagonista es genial, se desconoce realmente el modo en que la adquiere.
No considero que sea propio para el público infantil (al menos no sin supervisión) pero un buen análisis la hace una gran obra juvenil para tomar en cuenta.