Susan's Helping Hand

Susan #2

by Jane Shaw

188p hardback, colourful illustrated boards, minimal wear, name to endpaper, pages clean and bright, a very good copy

Genres: Childrens

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1955

About the author

Jane Shaw (1910-2000), born Jean Bell Shaw Patrick, was a children's book author. She was the daughter of Dr. John Patrick, and his wife, Margaret (née Shaw). Educated first by a governess, and then at the Park School in Glasgow, she went on to Glasgow University, where she graduated with Honors in English Literature and Language, in 1932. After taking a teacher training course in London, Shaw returned to Glasgow, where she worked for the publisher Collins, and where one of the editors encouraged her to write her own stories. Breton Holiday, published in 1939, was the result.

Shaw married accountant John Evans in 1939, settling with him in Dulwich, London, where they lived with their children - daughter Jane, son Ian - until they were bombed out during World War II. A job in Johannesburg took the family to South Africa, where they lived from 1952 to 1978, after which they returned to Scotland. Shaw, who is best remembered as the creator of the eleven-book Susan series, died in 2000.

Reviews

[Bionic Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Susan's Helping Hand is an adventure story written in the 1950s, as part of a collection of books for young teenage girls. The eponymous Susan is overkeen to help people, which usually results in chaos. In this second book of the series, Susan has determined never to help anyone ever again, as it usually leads to trouble. The story is about her escapades as she tried to solve a local mystery.

I read about a third, but did not finish the book due to the fact that I was so very bored. The language was dated, especially the slang, and the intended humour very limp. The story got bogged down in domestic detail. The attitudes of the main characters were blithely ignorant, with their various assumptions of routine employed help in the house continuing, despite being "poor", and assurances that someone would "work like a black". Perhaps it is to be expected in fiction from a century earlier, but I felt like throwing this book across the room.

Jane Shaw was a Scottish author, writing for children and young adults. She published over forty books and numerous short stories. There is a whole series of books about this character; I hope some of the others are less objectionable and more entertaining than this one.

[Caro (carosbookcase) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan's Helping Hand is the second book in Jane Shaw’s Susan series. Susan’s parents live in Africa and she stays with her three cousins in London, where they are looked after by their Aunt Lucy. It’s the first day of Easter holidays and both Susan and her cousin Midge wake up with chickenpox. When their temperatures have finally subsided, Aunt Lucy suggests they take a holiday to Kent where they can recuperate on Cousin Barbara’s fruit farm.

Once there, Susan hatches a plot to catch the Mad Collector, a thief who has been stealing precious artifacts from the houses in the area. Susan also reunites a family friend with her long lost nieces and nephew. In true Susan fashion, she gets herself and her cousins into numerous scrapes along the way, but that’s all part of the adventure!

Susan is from Glasgow and once in a while she uses some Scottish words and sayings. Most frequently, “och”. However, in this edition the publisher decided to spell it “ugh”, which is a bit confusing until you make the connection of what exclamation is intended.

I do want to mention that this book is of its time and should be read with that in mind. I found this title to be a bit more dated than the following book in the series, Susan Rushes In.

I will definitely be on the lookout for more of Jane Shaw's books in the future.

[Lady_bercilak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read one of the Susan books when I was young (Susan Pulls the Strings) and I didn’t much like the character of Susan at that time. This time I liked her much better. She is well-meaning and humble rather than arrogantly determined on her own way, which was my first impression. I liked the family dynamic of Susan with her cousins and aunts (the uncle comes into the story very little). The only thing that grated was Susan’s frequent utterance of “Ugh”. I finally came to realise that this is the author’s way of rendering Susan’s Scottish accent with the word more usually written as “Och.” I would have preferred “Och” to be honest, but one I realised what the author was trying to do, I was more comfortable with it.