Customer Reviews

Saffys Angel

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have just spent the afternoon with the most entertaining, warm, funny, and unusual people; they are the Casson family. In 152 pages, McKay has created characters I want to spend more time with and get to know better. Cadmium is the oldest girl and is learning to drive and pass her "A" levels. Indigo is the brother who dreams of exploring the Artic. Rose is the youngest who shows an affinity with paint as an infant.

We meet Saffy in the terrific opening sentence of the novel, "When Saffron was eight, and had at last learned to read, she hunted slowly through the color chart pinned up on the kitchen wall."

Through her exploration of a painter's color chart the story of her adoption into the Casson family is revealed. She learns that she was born in Siena, Italy and brought to England by her grandfather when her own mother died in an automobile crash. Although the focus of the story is on Saffy's search for her place in the family, the rest of the characters are so wonderfully drawn that the reader feels a personal connection with each one of them. The way the family members interact and care for each other is touching yet tremendously funny too.

Caddy's driving lessons (and her crush on the driving instructor) are hilarious. I laughed and laughed as I read. Indigo's valiant attempts to conquer his various fears are profoundly moving. Rose is a no holds barred artist. Her realistic view and handling of their father and his dismay at his unconventional family is cheering.

I sought this book out when the Junior Library Guild chose "Indigo's Star" as a selection this fall. Lucky for me, I will get to spend another afternoon with the Cassons now.

Stop what you are doing right now: order it, place it on hold at your library, or go out and buy it! You will thank me.

I chose this book out of chance for a university course paper. Thank God. This book was one of the most endearing and beautiful stories about a fabulously funny and looney family.

I hope that many other people find this book by accident as well.

Thank you Saffy!

The characters in this story will win you over in the first few pages! McKay writes with a wit that calls to mind JK Rowling. The children (who are all named after paint colors by their artist parents) are hysterical and cooly intelligent. The adults are loveable but incapable, however the children make up for that by being the true heroes. The comraderie between the siblings is refreshing and intriguing. I freely give it five stars for originality of character. A good pick for 5th-12th grade, as the ages of the children range all over. You will want to read the sequel Indigo's Star as well as the soon-to-be-published Permanent Rose.

Bill Casson once said "If there is one thing your mother was good at, it was chousing names for you children". And really, names for kids of Bill and Eve Casson, for which inspiration was color chard on kicken wall, were perfect for their owners:

Cadmium, known as Caddy, was gold just as color that shows her name.

Saffron is one tint of yellow, and yellow usually shows stubbornes and proudness, words that discribe Saffy.

Indigo, pale, thin, black-ahired boy, who's usually dressed in black, really fits as dark, Indigo color.

And youngest Rose is real, amrt and out-goings, jsut as color of red Rose.

But, stranges for all 4 kids is Saffy, closed and shy. She's like that all since she was 8, since she learned to read, and since she could, from chair, read that there's no her name on color chard.

All since she found out that she's adopted.

Since then, Saffy si hunted by dreams about garden and stone angel with words "Saffy's Angel" on it. When Saffy mets little spoilt, stubborn girl from neiburhood, Sarah, who's born whith adventure spirit, this two best friends decice to go to Siena, town in Italy, where Eve's twin sister, Saffy's mother, lived with Saffy before she died in car accident, to find "Saffy's Angel".

But how will they get to Siena? Will they even go there? And what will happen with other Casson kids? All that you can find out in this exciting, family novel by Hialary McKay which will amke you cry... from laugh!

~*~

I'm sometimes vary critic about books, there are many that I like but only few of them are my fave. Saffy's Angel is one of few. It's sassy, funny, family, warm, deffrent, lovely, emotinal, beautiful... There are 100 more words that describe this novel! I never felth borning while I read it! There isn't some action, but you are just enchanted by sassy Casson family. Sometimes I wish I was Casson too, and I'm shore you will too when you read this nivel!

I can't say which caracter I like best! Is is dreamy Caddy who's in love with Michael, driver instructoir, who loves hamsters and who, in half of driving lesson says "Is my lip-stick too pink?"? Is it closed Saffy who don't care about world, who can't fit in her family (or doesn't want to fit in her family), who lost her mother and who despertly want to find her angel? Is it Indigo, who wants to cure his fear from high, who is sick from Caddy's drive, who is always shy? Is it smart, little Rose, always prud, little painter, who's not scared of anything? Is it someone from parents, ,lovely, dreamy Eve or busy, real Bill? Or is it adventure Sarah, Saffy's best friend? I loved each member of Casson family, their big family which is not constant only from blood-relativs, then from all people who Casson family loves!

Hialry McKay created fatastic novel for readers of all ages! I loved it when I was 11, I love it now when I'm nearly 14! My little brother love it, and he's 8, and I'm shore many adults love it as well! You can really laugh at all little adventures of people from "Bannana-House" and you'll wish to read more and more about them!

Maybe, you'll fell like member of Casson family also, just as I did sometimes!

There are so many words to describe this book! The story was extremely creative and absorbing. The book started as decent, but into the middle I began becoming very interested and found myself not wanting to put it down. The book is so...different...original...to the point where even unessecary details were enjoyable and descriptive enough to picture in my mind. The characters were so easy to love and so memorably humorous! I just can't say enough about their strange ways of doing things and their odd-but-entertaining interests. I almost wish this book was a series instead of a novel, but I feel that it is close enough to the perfect story as it is. I really liked that it didn't focus completely on Saffy, but also on her artistic and loving family. I also liked that the characters got right to the point, instead of rambling for pages.

This one has become a major favorite of mine, and will be one that I recommend to all my friends!

Hillary McKay has a way with using words to describe her clever and lovable characters that just suck you in and make you wish they where real. I loved the soft side of Rose revealed in the scene when the siblings are driving to Wales to find Saffy's angel. Her cute little notes to other drivers made me laugh out loud at their cleverness and left me with a new impression of her personality. Caddy's determinedness and sweet heart make her an effective character as the story develops. While Indigo's vulnerability and sincerity make you just want to reach out and hug him. Then there's Saffron the moody odd one out in the group. While Saffy's story unfolds I love how McKay keeps the stories of all the others going on quietly in the background in which Caddy's driving lessons with Michael take center stage. You will be led through an amazing heart warming adventure by the most loveable engaging cast I have ever seen.

This book is really great. All of the kids are funny in the book and Micheal, the driving instructor is also funny. There are 3 different countries that they go to in this book. I'd recommend this book for other 6 year old kids (and older)

I loved this book, but it really depends on your nature and your comedic status. It's English humor, so if you've never laughed at "Monty Python" and you've never watched "Fawlty Towers" don't bother. But if you have, then you will enjoy this. Of course, this book is not all humor and laughter.

It's a sensitive, beautiful story of Saffron ("Saffy"), a young girl who wonders why she is not like her siblings. She befriends a young girl who helps her discover that her past is unlike the past of her siblings, and that Saffy is a different kind of angel.

What would you do if you spent half your life believing your aunt and uncle were your mother and father?
When Saffron is two her mother dies. Her grandfather brings her to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. Saffron believes her uncle is her father and her aunt is her mother for most of her life. Until one morning she finds out her real mother is dead. Now, Saffron remembers everything. From then on she dedicates her life to finding the statue of an angel she played with while her mom was alive.
Hilary McKay is a great writer, since she has the ability to get readers interested in her book in just the first page. McKay made the characters and their moods come to life as I went on an adventure with Saffron and her best friend, Sara. If you enjoy being led into a fascinating story about an 8 year old girl you will love Saffy's Angel.

Cameron S.

I checked the audio tapes out from the library on a whim. What a find. What a crack-up. When I started listening I kept laughing, but thought something must be wrong with me--isn't this a serious book? Nope. The car ride to Wales at the end was really funny. The lady who does the narrating is terrific. Maybe the book is for children, but adults should enjoy it too--if they are British comedy fans. The plot is pretty simple, so I'd say its main attraction is the humor.