The Children of Swallow Fell
Author: Julia Green @JGreenAuthor
Illustrator: Helen Crawford-White @studiohelen
Published by: Oxford University Press @OxUniPress
Published on: August 2020
Price: £6.99
First line: This is how it starts.
Genre: Dystopian, Nature, Adventure
Age: 9+
ISBN: 978 0 19 277158 2
What’s it all about? A girl, Isabella, who lives comfortably in Italy with her family and friends has her utopia cut short with the sudden arrival of bombs one afternoon. Fleeing to safety euth her dad to his paternal home in the depths of England, Isabella is safe, but she doesn’t know what has happened to her mum, sister or best friend. Now, she has to try and survive in the wilderness with no running water or electricity. She only has nature to help and guide her. Along with some new friends. Soon, she has to rely on those new friends, and new skills and knowledge and her own bravery as her dad doesn’t return from his journey to look for food. Will she survive in this new world?
Why should I read it? Beautiful description abounds throughout this book, of nature and emotions and the natural world. It is apocalyptic, which might put some people off who have had enough of Covid etc, but it’s well worth a read. Strong over arching themes of trust, friendship, family, longing and survival run through the story and help us to journey through a tough but beautiful landscape with Isabella. She is such a likeable and real character – strong sometimes and in tears the next. She grows throughout the story, especially when she has to become strong for the others. I am going to use it in class to link in with a Year 5 topic about the Mediterranean!
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