Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

CORBIE

Rate this book
CORBIE (William Mayne's Animal Library)

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

William Mayne

137 books17 followers
William Mayne was a British writer of children's fiction. Born in Hull, he was educated at the choir school attached to Canterbury Cathedral and his memories of that time contributed to his early books. He lived most of his life in North Yorkshire.

He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.

A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.

William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1 (16%)
4 stars
0 (0%)
3 stars
5 (83%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Profile Image for Bec.
825 reviews2 followers
October 20, 2023
A strong parallel to "The Ugly Duckling", a good opener for talking about differences, and how those differences can change, but also about self perception. An intriguing read (from an adults perspective, at least), and the illustrations are stunning.
Displaying 1 of 1 review