Customer Reviews

A House Inside Out

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At 54 Pavillion Road, home of the Dixon family, great adventurers lie underfoot and hidden in the walls. The deftly-drawn characters of Willy the earnest but short-sighted terrier, Nat the intrepid Pill Bug, his friend the spider, and Sam the show-off mouse and his long-suffering wife, Doris, their all-too human foibles and mishaps made me and my ten year old laugh out loud. Each chapter tells a different, but beguiling tale about one of the inhabitants of the inside-out house; major dramas of which the Dixons remain blithely unaware. Ostensibly a child's book, but one which relies refreshingly on everyday life for its subject and teaches no greater moral than, aren't we all silly, it makes for delightful inter-generational reading.

I'm a huge fan of Penelope Lively. This is a charming, convincing little gem conveying life among the animal denizens of one average British house in an average British town. The protagonists include a mutt dog, a mouse, an inspiring pillbug named Nate. A sly cat spurs the dog on to dig up his owner's rosebushes. . . Nate's pal the spider fights with his neighbor and courts the female spider a few feet away. . . The mouse's wife rebels and lets him know she wants a newer, nicer apartment for the new babies. . . Underneath or overhead, the Dixons do their homework, feed the baby, wash the dishes, enjoy a football match on the telly. This one is worth hunting down. What a shame it's out of print.