Cautionary Tales for Boys and Girls

4.5 Stars

Guillermo Del Toro once mentioned in an interview that darkness in children's films is necessary. Darkness addresses various neurosis and impulses that exist in the human condition and bypassing these truths does a disservice to children and how they deal with fear. Of course, I am paraphrasing big time, but that is the basic idea. Growing up in the 1980's and the early 1990's, my children's entertainment was far darker than it is today. For instance, I scoffed when people claimed that Pixar's "Brave" was too scary for children under the age of 12. Are they kidding? Do they know that when I was a child, I watched Atreyu brutally kill Gmork in the Neverending Story? I seem to remember some terrifying scenes in the film adaptions of "The Secret of Nymh" and "The Last Unicorn." I am not going to even begin to discuss most episodes of "Are you Afraid of the Dark." What does this all have to do with "The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls"? This book is quite scary. It is also brilliant.

Basically, the story centers around Victoria, a perfect specimen of a child if she does say so herself. She is top of her class, loved by her teachers and always presentable. She doesn't have much need for friends, but she has found herself a project in classmate, Lawrence. Lawrence is an odd child with a streak of grey running through his unkempt hair. He is a musical prodigy, but always humming, a habit Victoria finds quite annoying. She has made it her goal to whip Lawrence into shape. This all comes to a head one strange day when some unraveling at school leads her to denounce Lawrence. Then he disappears. 

All of the adults, including Lawrence's parents claim that he has gone upstate, but there is something cruel in these proclamations and Victoria decides she will get to the bottom of it. A decision that leads her to the doorway of The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, a mysterious orphanage run by Miss Cavendish herself and her "project" Mr. Alice. Within this house leads Victoria on a terrible journey which is reminiscent of "Coraline" and slightly fable like in quality. 

In essence this is a very Victorian story. It is a cautionary tale. It is cautionary of cold Victorian values and has a heroine (albeit, a slightly annoying one) named Victoria. Miss Cavendish takes "difficult" children and strives to straighten them out. Some of her victims are Lawrence, who's odd humming and passion for music has begun of annoy his parents (children should be seen and not heard) and Jacqueline, the unkempt sister of Victoria's rival who's art work uses motifs of death and darkness. Then there is Victoria herself, who's crime may be her own perfection. If a child is straightened out by age 13 they are sent back to their home, but they are "changed" into a pale imitation of the person they once were.


Let it be known, there are some frightening elements of this book. It is very surreal and the implications of the horrors of the Cavendish home may not be suitable for younger or more sensitive readers. One example is the origin of the mysterious Cavendish casserole and her monstrous servants, the Gofers. I won't spoil it for anyone, but let's just say it is tied to fate of the children who do not make it to leave after their 13th birthday. Some of the scenes are also somewhat heartbreaking, but through Victoria's eyes we see something else. The caution against "too perfect". Miss Cavendish sees similarities between she and Victoria. Victoria too notices this and is horrified at the implications. 

The descriptive language is also quite beautiful, and while scary this book holds a lot of emotional value. Perhaps this is part of what Del Toro was talking about. In a world where competition to be "the best" and "elite" is pushed on some children from a very young age, this story strikes a chord.

Suffering for your art.

 A Solid 3 Stars
Oh, how I wanted to love this book! As a John Barrowman fan, I am well aware of how talented the man is. I really wanted that talent to carry over into his first children's novel. Not only was it getting good press, but he wrote it with his sister which is quite endearing.

I did not love this book. I liked a lot of it. I did not hate it. I also did not love it. The story is interesting enough. Twins Matt and Em discover that their ability to animate artwork that they create is due to their heritage as Animare. As mentioned in their abilities, Animare...animate their artwork. They are also naturally talented artists and many famous names in art history have been Animare. Van gough, for instance, was an Animare. However, these abilities come with a price. 

Sometimes Animare become power hungry or warped by their art. When this happens, a council of people called Guardians, who have powers meant to keep Animare in check bind the offender to one of their art works. When the story opens, Matt and Em are on the Guardian hit list. We discover that their mother, another Animare, broke a rule of the council by having children with a Guardian, giving the twins abilities of both. 

Furthermore, there is chatter of the return of a sinister group called, "The Hollow Earth Society", which believes that creatures created in the artwork of the Animare lives within the Earth wrapped up in another dimension. Anyway, Sandie, the mother of the twins spirits them away to an island in Scottland, where their Guardian Grandfather can protect them from those who wish to harm them. Mayhem ensues.

While there is some real inventive qualities of this story, the major problems I had with it were in pacing, language and characterization. Until the very end, the story seems to lag far more than it should. Part of this I attribute to my second problem with the book. Language. Most of the action reads like directions. We are told what the twins and their friends do and how they feel, but nothing in the language gives a sense of realism. The phrase, "show, don't tell" rang in my ears throughout a majority of the action.

Last, characterization. The twins, who are supposed to be nearly 13, behave as if they are a good three years young. I simply could not get a good sense of who they are through their words and actions. I barely bought their affection for their mother, grandfather or even for one another. I read the words, yes, but the emotion behind them felt flimsy.

Still, I would not write this off as a total loss. As mentioned, the premise is interesting enough. Also, the chapters are short, making this a good choice for fantasy fans intimidated by long winded prose. Hopefully the Barrowman siblings are simply cutting their teeth here and will follow up this work with a sequel worthy of their talent. Maybe that is just a fan's wishful thinking