Customer Reviews

Thursday's Child

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the shadowy, half-remembered books in the back of my mind is a big hardcover in a scratchy green cloth binding, a book called Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild. I despair of ever finding that book again, because this one, an out-of-print British paperback Amazon found for me after searching for YEARS, isn't the right story. It has the right characters, like the lovely Lavinia Beresford and the central Margaret Thursday, but I fear it has been abridged. With an axe. This is the kind of thing that makes me want to cry.

I checked this book out of my grade school library so many times that when I moved away, they gave it to me. Excellent, wonderful, honorable book. Great for girls and exciting enough for boys. A British orphan rebels against the Matron to find her path in life.

Margaret Thursday is one of the greatest heroines in children's literature today and it's a great shame she's not recognised as much as she deserves to be. It's this aspect however that makes this book a refreshing read for anybody wanting to escape the hype of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, and it will leave a lasting impression on anyone who reads it. Some might say the book is a little unchallenging; after all it is a children's book, but for me it is this that adds to the beauty of the simple story of a spirited and gifted child who boldly sets out to seek her fortune in the world. Age doesn't and shouldn't matter at all when you've got a wonderful book like this.

When I was in sixth grade, this was one of my favorite books in the whole world. If you love Noel Streatfeild's other books, you will probably love this one too. As a down-to-earth look at a little girl and her rather unusual life on the canals, this book is marvelous. Girls will find the book amusing and will be able to easily relate to the struggles, while older readers will be able to look back to their childhood, and even be able to better understand what their children might be thinking. A wonderful read for any girl, boy, parent or grandparent!

Even though I wasn't in the reading range for this book (I read it when I was 14) I found this book to be very good. I found something in all of the characters and the story was really good and easy to follow. I felt very sorry for the children in the story, but it's kind of hard to feel sorry for the main character of the story because she's so strong and so set on solving her problems on her own. And come on she runs away! That has to be on reason for kids to read the book. This book was a pretty easy read and I think even a third grader could plow through this book and feel satisfied in the end.

I tried to read all of Noel Streatfeild's books when I was in school. This was my favorite followed by Dancing Shoes. I liked them both better than Ballet Shoes which seems to be her most famous. I could relate totally to Margaret's adventurous spirit. I loved the descriptions of fine food and clothes. And when Matron was run off---! I just loved it. There was so much to this story. Make sure you purchase the original full length book.