Secret Creatures

by Jenny Nimmo

448 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jenny Nimmo was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey from the age of six until the age of sixteen, when she ran away from school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. She graduated and acted in repertory theater in various towns and cities: Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Hastings, and Bexhill.

She left Britain to teach English to three Italian boys in Almafi, Italy. On her return, she joined the BBC, first as a picture researcher, then as an assistant floor manager, studio manager (news) then finally a director/adaptor with Jackanory (a BBC storytelling program for children). She left BBC to marry a Welsh artist David Wynn Millward and went to live in Wales in her husband's family home. They live in a very old converted watermill, and the river is constantly threatening to break in, as it has done several times in the past, most dramatically on her youngest child's first birthday. During the summer they run a residential school of art, and she has to move her office, put down tools (type-writer and pencil, and don an apron and cook! They have three grown-up children, Myfawny, Ianto, and Gwenwyfar.

Reviews

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really shocked by some of the reviews written here. As an English teacher, I found Secret Creatures both extremely well written and powerfully useful for the classroom, especially for advanced readers who need a challenge. This is a fun read and offers up lots of discussion material. I strongly recommend it! It's not, to be clear, a book intended for adults, but as an adult reader, I read it to discuss with my daughter who loved it, and I read it to see if I should get it for my classroom library. I most certainly did purchase several copies to have on hand & am thinking about using parts for a unit.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected great things of these two stories...they didn't live up to my expectations.

[Goh Jiayin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has 2 stories. Well I personally do not like the first one. In some ways I really think the protagonist is somewhat crazy to the point of hallucination. Maybe I lacked in imagination or it is just as it is and I think too much. However, I find the second story although in some ways rather expected but nevertheless pleasing. Good for those who like a short and sweet story.