Blackberry Blue

by Jamila Gavin, Richard Collingridge (Illustrator)

Prepare to enter a world of magicians, enchanted forests, talking animals and wicked witches . . .

Here are six magical stories to thrill and enchant you. Watch Blackberry Blue rise from the bramble patch; follow Emeka the pathfinder on his mission to save a lost king; join Princess Desire as she gallops across the Milky Way on her jet-black horse.

These beautifully written and original stories will delight readers of all ages, and the stunning illustrations by Richard Collingridge will take your breath away.

Genres: Novels, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2013

About the author

Jamila Gavin was born in Mussoorie, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, to an Indian father and an English mother. Jamila has written many books with multicultural themes for children and young adults. She won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award in 2000 and was runner-up for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Her work has been adapted for stage and television. Jamila Gavin lives in England.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

So rich in language and imagery: I loved these stories. It made me smile to make comparisons with fairy tales from my childhood. Love how Blackberry Blue does the rescuing - girl power!

[Naomi]

Brilliant - its so important for literature to preserve and continue the traditions of story-telling down the centuries. The traditional "fairy tales" in particular run like golden threads not only through children's literature but all literature, film and media ... they are an essential part of our culture and heritage. However, valuable as they are, they can become increasingly difficult to tell through time - whilst the themes and messages remain relevant, the world changes and the original versions of the stories can become disconnected, old fashioned, or downright offensive.

Jamila Gavin has found a brilliant way of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater! These tales maintain all the European story-telling tradition and references of the original fairy story, including a Grimm like darkness - but with protagonists of diverse colour and gender so that all (more) children will be able to see themselves in the story. Its not heavy-handed or worthy and neither are these re-tellings of the old stories - Its a beautiful collection of original, enchanting fairy tales.

[Mercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally I get to read the captivating stories in this book. Reading blackberry blue, I couldn't think of any other story than Cinderella, so similar yet so different. Gavin has brought alive a multicultural Cinderella, with beautiful dark skin and brown eyes and wears a gown that is made of flowers but will wither at dawn, if she doesn't leave the ball on time. Blackberry attends the ball on three occasions before she finally gets to be with her prince charming, in this case, Prince Just. I just like the way the names of the characters depict their roles. Prince wolf turns out to be a real wolf while prince Just is the fair and kind one and as for Blackberry blue, as the name predicts, she was found in a blackberry bush. Then we are introduced to the magical purple lady, brave Abu trying to find her sister and Missouri, the cat who becomes the eye of Abu as she leads the way to the rescue adventure. The purple lady reminds me of Hercules and the twelve labours since Abu had to carry a lot of seemingly impossible tasks in his rescue mission to bring his sister, Leyla back. Magic is also encapsulated in the Golden Carp, Emeka the pathfinder, oddboy and the night princess. The heroes and heroines in this book become triumphant over adversity which is a feature readers expects. The themes in this novel is beyond measure, ranging from love, sacrifice, deceit, power of music and so much more. In the preface, Gavin highlights that she wanted to extend the European storyline so readers from all diverse background can identify with the characters and enjoy reading the stories and she did not fail...she did justice to that. This novel could be used in both KSI and KS2

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, one of the best collection of stories for children that I have ever read! I will definitely be using this book in future with the classes that I will have and I am eager to share it with them. I am very keen for children to experience better representations of characters from different ethnic backgrounds, and this one depicts a whole range of POC/ characters described as POC as brave heros and beautiful princesses - it is so important that British children from Asian and Black backgrounds can see themselves in stories too, so that they have role models and do not feel left out. White children also need to hear about POC heros to develop a positive outlook on the world and experience diversity.

I like how vivid the descriptions of the characters' appearances are - with focus on skin being as 'black as midnight' and curls like 'threads of cold', this allows little Black girls to have their individual beauty celebrated.

I feel like these stories are suitable for across the primary ages, a grown up treat for Year ones, and relaxing nostalgia for Year 6s.

If there was a theme topic or science lessons on space, I would read 'the night princess'.
These stories offer introductions to traditional tales and mythology; they speak the imagination and would cultivate a love of reading, story-telling, and inspire research into the content they are based off of.

[Sophie Snowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely collection of short stories! The detailed description in this book makes you feel like you really know the characters and the settings. It’s a fab collection which I cannot wait to share with children in the future.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

On openlibrary! But so gorgeous, I want to own a copy myself. I will look for more by author and by illustrator, and the book designers deserve credit, too (in fact, the author does so in the acknowledgement note).

It's not perfect, but as a child less jaded, I would have absolutely loved it. I always loved the 'fairy tales around the world' collections but was puzzled that 'the world' meant something like England, France, Italy, Scotland, and Japan. Um, wait, what?

Gavin brilliantly collects some of the most beloved and resonant themes & motifs and imagines new stories with new shapes. And new characters, too, with ebon skin, golden eyes, etc. Not all princesses have skin white as snow or hair of gold, she shows us. Problematic details from the originals are remade, too, so that we have more kindness, more courage, and more intelligence. There are still plenty of evil stepmothers and episodes of violence, though; these stories are not sanitized.

The last story is extra special love, or obsession? Sacrifice... for whom? Duty? Family?

In fact, all stories would be worthy springboards for discussion or some sort of exploration of ideas. Don't spoil them for the children by getting all Literary Analysis on them, but maybe just ask something like 'what did you think when x character chose y action?'

Every library that serves 8-12 year old children should have a copy.

[Bethy Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short twisted and alternative fairy tales! I especially loved the inclusion and representation of ethnic minorities in a genre notorious for being white-washed and patriarchal. I think it is really important that this generation of children are exposed to characters that are more representative of our current society, rather than following traditions. Out of all the short stories, I enjoyed reading 'The Golden Carp' and 'Emeka the Pathfinder'.

When looking at the collection of stories as a whole, I didn’t enjoy 'The Purple Lady' due to it being quite dark and gory. I also felt 'Blackberry Blue' and 'The Night Princess' were still too traditional for a book of alternative fairy tales, despite having black women as their protagonists.

In terms of using this book in the classroom, I think it is only really appropriate for UKS2 and, even then, you would have to be careful with the choice of stories to use depending on your cohort. It would be great to use when looking at alternatives to fairy tales and third person narratives. However, I think that the description is lacking in places. Although the appearance of many of the characters is described beautifully, you don't get a true sense of the personalities in each story. Therefore, I found it really difficult to connect or relate to any of the characters, to the point where I didn't care what happened to them. If I felt this way, I would be worried about how children would feel about the book.

In terms of cross-curricular uses, I think it would be great to do some artwork based on the stories in this book. As there is an array of characters from different backgrounds, it would be interesting to see how the children interpret the characters and settings into artwork.

The Golden Carp (focused review):

The Golden Carp is just one of the alternative fairy tales told within the collection Blackberry Blue and Other Fairy Tales. Each of the stories within Blackberry Blue start with a moral, a bit like a fable. The moral for The Golden Carp is:

Greed and Laziness are two of the deadliest sins because they lead to other evils, but Kindness and Generosity can bring Good Fortune.

The story is about a young man called Chi, whose father passes away and therefore lives alone with his mother. However, early on in the story, Chi’s mother remarries to a cruel and greedy man who moves into Chi’s home with his lazy son, Lu. Throughout the story, Chi and his mother face numerous ordeals at the hands of these two cruel men but maintain their inherent kindness and generosity despite adversity. The story ends with both Chi and his mother receiving good fortune due to their persistent good nature.

The story is told in a third person narrative, much like a traditional fairy tale. As with the other Blackberry Blue stories, the reader is provided with very little description about the characters. There is a character description of Chi’s appearance on page 83, and we are told a little about each of the characters’ qualities, but other than that it is hard to truly know the characters or relate to them in a deep way.

I would have to carefully consider which classes to use this story with. Although it is very imaginative, and offers an insight into a culture most children in the UK won’t get a chance to experience, there are elements of the story which are hard to grasp. Some puzzles that children may struggle with are:
How the father becomes the golden carp?
How Chi ends up underwater and this interaction with the old woman?
What happens to Chi when he returns to the house and then disappears in a pool of green water?
How Lu ends up underwater and his interaction with the old woman?
What relevance the carved jewels have?
What happens to Lu when he presents himself to the princess?

Obviously these are puzzles in the story to consider with a class, but they also create brilliant learning opportunities for discussion, predictions, hypotheses, deduction and speculation.

For me, the story reminds me of Cinderella: Chi is Cinderella, forced to labour on the farm from dawn until dusk by his awful step-father (evil step-mother) whilst Lu (ugly step-sister) lazes around spending all the family’s money. However, Chi has a fairy godmother figure: the golden carp (his father), who guides him towards good fortune. Lu tries to win the hand of the princess (just like the ugly step-sisters try to win over the prince), however it is Chi who wins the princess’s affections in the end.

In addition to the clear links between The Golden Carp and Cinderella, Gavin also directly uses language from traditional fairy tales in order to ground the story within the genre. For example, Gavin does this explicitly at the end (p. 114): ‘Chi married the princess, and not only lived happily ever after with her…’, and also more subtly right at the beginning (p. 81): ‘Deep in the valley was a hidden lake.’ Quite often, after ‘once upon a time’, fairy tales will lead straight into a setting description to give the reader a sense of where the story takes place.

Ideas for use with a class:
- Setting descriptions: Initial setting description (p. 81)
- Character descriptions: Chi’s appearance (p. 83)
- Description: Fish (p. 84)
- Personification/Similes: ‘willows trailed their branches like wet hair’ (p. 81) (p. 89) (p. 97)
- Shape and effect: The font of the writing in numerous places throughout the story match what is being written eg. skipped (p. 83), counting (p. 87), dipping and twirling (p. 88), (pp. 92-93), (p. 98), verbs (p. 112)
- Focus on verbs for sound/movement: (p. 87), (p. 112)
- Compare to other fairy tales: Look at similarities and differences eg. Cinderella, look at language which is similar to the genre
- PSHE: Focus on characters’ qualities eg. Chi and his mother vs. Lu and his father, comparison between Chi’s and Lu’s response to the old woman underwater
- Art: Carving activity

Further predictions/questions:
- Foreshadowing on page 86: What could Chi mean by ‘something will happen to end this injustice’?
- What is the shape beneath the water (p. 89)? Why did the fish seem familiar (p. 90)?
- Whose prediction was right about the fish (p. 94)?
- Is there a link between Chi skipping the pebbles and the carp appearing (p. 95)?
- What do you think has happened to Chi (p. 101)?
- What else in the story is blue, green, black and golden (p. 102)?
- What is going to happen to Lu (p. 103)?
- Why did the carp and Chi rescue Lu (p. 107)?
- Why does Chi need the carved animals (p. 110)?
- What does the interaction between Lu and his father say about the father (p. 111)?
- Who do you think the hag is (p. 113)?
- What does the ending of the story teach us (p. 115)?
- How does the story link to the moral at the start?

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short fairytale style stories with both similarities and differences to the traditional fairy tales. This book would be perfect for use in KS2 as a storybook to read and enjoy but could also be used in English lessons as the descriptions in this book are beautifully detailed. Some of the stories could also be read to children in KS1 making this a perfect universal book for a primary school teacher. There are lots of opportunities for predictions to be made by the children throughout the stories as well as opportunities for questioning by the teacher. I found this book enjoyable to read and will be using it with children in the future.

I liked the fact that the book contains a collection of short stories which could help to keep children, particularly younger ones, engaged throughout the book as you wouldn’t be reading each story for very long. I also believe there are a lot of opportunities for children to write their own endings or scenes from the stories. For example, the teacher could read all of the story apart from the last chapter and then children could finish writing it in a big write session following on from a class discussion to inspire creative ideas by sharing. There are also plenty of cross-curricular links which could be included. For example, children could create their own dresses for Blackberry Blue in DT, by first designing and then making them with inspiration from the book (using natural resources or taking inspiration from the colours and textures described).

Some of the stories in this collection may not be suitable for certain children so as a teacher, this must be considered before reading the book. For example, in one of the stories, a child’s father dies and his mother ends up in a bad relationship. This story may therefore not be suitable to read to a child who has been in a similar situation as it could become quite upsetting for them. KS1 teachers would also have to consider their individual class before reading stories from this collection as some of them may be too complex for young children to fully understand or enjoy.

There are lots of patterns which appear in this book which have strong links to traditional fairy tales. For example, the princess changing from ‘ugly’ to ‘beautiful’ links to the prince changing from a frog to a prince in traditional stories, the princess looking for a prince also links very closely to.

This book would allow for many opportunities for transforming the classroom/reading area to engage the children with the book. For example, the reading area could be made into the tree that the king lived inside while in the forest and misleading paths could be created around the classroom or in the playground.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. As the book is several short stories it made it easier for me to read as I can get quite distracted! Which makes it perfect for a primary school classroom as the stories will keep both younger and older students engaged and focused.

All the stories had links to traditional fairy tales. This could be a good starting point for looking at one of the stories in detail and getting children to recognise similarities and differences to other tales that they know.

There’s lots of imagery used across the stories as well which would be good to cross with an art lesson and getting children to draw the description in their own interpretation.

There is also lots of nature and natural objects across the stories as well, which would be a good focus for an outdoor lesson or a forest school link to help immerse the children into the stories - it would also help children to put “a face to a name”. A Sensory experience would be beneficial to SEN students as well.

[Lianne Goates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a great book if you want to read various stories quickly. I like that the stories can be read in any order you don't have to read them in the order they are published. As the stories are short, one could be read at the end of the day in a classroom setting, meaning that children can hear various stories in a week. I also like how some of the pages have pictures and drawings but most of the book is left to the imagination of the reader. I found it difficult to read some of the names to start with in the book, in particular, in the story of 'The Purple Lady'. This meant when I was reading, the flow of the story was broken up and I lost what was being said. However, most of the other names were easy to pronounce.

[Andy Verschoyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

In traditional style, an omniscient narrator tells a story with a philosophical introduction - “The Giver of Life and Death treats everyone equally, and Happiness is like a butterfly.” In a world where there are “…dark forces…like the Raven Witch and her Wolf Son….”. We note that the capital letters are the author’s own, so this is not a morality tale where good behaviour is rewarded, it is a confrontation between good and evil, where there is not necessarily a happy ending, though the reader suspects there may be.

There is a small cast of stock characters:

- the king who “ …thought he was the happiest man alive..” loses his wife in childbirth
- a poor and childless woodcutter and his wife “…but they felt rich enough…accepted their fate and didn’t let this sadness cloud the happiness of their lives.”
- Prince Just “…noble and good…”
- a foundling, “…the most beautiful girl…the happiest of children…” with a mysterious magical mother.
- an evil stepmother and her son, with alter egos as a raven and a wolf

Gavin declares her intention in the preface to write stories “…without departing from the themes of traditional European tales…” but “…which extended the European image, so that more diverse children could “…say, ‘That could be me’”.

There is not much to dislike other than perhaps that this is a slightly derivative retelling of the Cinderella tale, complete with three balls (Grimm style); and the appearance at the end of the mother is a little unnecessary, although it completes in true fairy tale style the cycle of the raven witch’s spell - broken when she is killed.

This, however, is not the saccharine Perrault version with a simpering, put-upon Cinders, her caricature, evil stepmother with her vile daughters, fairy godmother, and trademark glass slipper. Instead we have stepmother / witch / crow and her wolf / son, and a blackberry-skinned foundling with a natural mother personified by a magical, prickly bramble bush, who / which provides the heroine’s cloak, both a disguise and a weapon to kill the wolf and save the prince.

Blackberry Blue is a modern girl, she works to support herself. She does not go to the ball via the servants’ entrance but up the great flight of stone stairs and in through the front door. She does not give in to Prince Wolf, his hands are pierced with thorns when he tries to grab her. And, finally, she is the one that saves Prince Just from his stepmother’s poisoned soup.

Looked-after and adopted children will identify with the heroine, as will any child who has ever been excluded, either by poverty or the cruelty of others. Mothers do die or can be seriously ill at childbirth. There are kind people who help those in need. And we are or should be aware of the random nature of life and how much is attributable to luck, however hard we work.

The language is carefully chosen: simple enough to be easily read by a child but dense and precise, modelled on the economic style of the Grimm Brothers. There are no superfluous, decorative details: the irritating, adjectives, adverbs, metaphors and flourishes of weaker children’s literature. Tales originally intended for oral retelling, frequently with the same words and patterns, could not be too ornate. When appropriate the language is rich indeed; at key moments, for example when Blackberry Blue is found : “…she saw a huge, rambling, shambling, prickly, thorny wall of brambles…”

Also, as is traditional, Gavin uses repetition to draw our attention to a detail : The woodcutter’s wife loves blackberry time: “ She knew just where…she knew just when…”. She hears: …” a thin, plaintive, hungry cry: a sad abandoned baby’s cry.” and again four paragraphs later. Each time when rushing from the ball: “ ‘I must go, I must go’ she cried.” The plot also provides the repetition of three balls, in the cycle of the seasons, spring summer and autumn and Gavin uses traditional rhyming couplets for the bramble bush mother to speak to her daughter, which gives them the weight of a proverb or spell.

This is a well crafted story - not too long for a single sitting, plenty of colourful action and passes the test of re-reading - essential for any fairy tale.

[Jonathan Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fairy tale novel was a nostalgic read that reminded of fairy tales I'd read as a child, this book firmly sits in the fantasy, fairytale genre. Blackberry blue is the first story in the series of stories and a personal favorite because of the mixture of movement of time and the main character being BAME is positive for the classroom. The novel has themes that both boys and girls would enjoy from the brilliant descriptions of the fight scenes between Prince Just and Prince Wolf to the metaphors used for Blackberry blues many dresses Gavin really encapsulated this genre.

I can see how the stories within the book can be differentiated between ability groups due to length, complexities, and themes. For example, the Purple Lady is one of the longest stories within the novel and involves the main character Abu, going into the realm of the purple lady to get the remains of his sister Leyla. The structure of this story follows Todorov's narrative theory as well as Propps Character archetypes.

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of newly written Fairy Tales by Jamila whose themes and characters may, to some extent, seem familiar yet with added twists. Lush illustrations and encourages a re-thinking of those established tales.

[Chloe Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories that are great for exploring in the classroom.

Not only does the text provide rich themes, concepts, illustrations and language to explore, but the opportunity for classroom displays and prompts are also strong. For instance, we can decorate the reading area like a forest, completed with acorns painted like the ones from Emika the pathfinder.

Gavin starts the tales with a verse, often an omniscient prophecy, a common trait in tales. This verse not only foreshadows what will occur in the story, but also draws on the short stories moral teaching, often connected to the deadly sins (such as greed and idleness) and themes of love and sacrifice.

What’s noticeable about Gavin’s tales is the intertwining of the different elements of fairytales.
For instance the time limits in Blackberry Blur and Emika the pathfinder, often occur in tales such as Cinderella. The Purple Lady can be tied with The Piped Piper. Sacrifice, a very common theme in the short stories, can be associated with Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, in which the mermaid sacrifices lots for the prince, eventually her own life.

We should also consider Gavin’s focus and careful consideration of colour use. The descriptive colours of the dresses in Blackberry Blue, which reflects the seasons and contrasts with the fuller and darker colour of the thorns. The rich use purple in the Purple Lady to describe the palace and the Lady is a particular choice as purple is often linked to extravagance, pride, mystery and most importantly magic. Furthermore, the gold is used to describe Leyla’s importance, worth and purity.

The illustrations and borders used in the novel works well with the descriptive words used, and can spark curiosity. The borders are good reflection of what is occurring on the page. The images may spark good conversations in the classroom. Different techniques can be used in the classroom such as covering up the image and getting the children to draw it based on the books description, or by providing the image before the text and asking the children to write a descriptive piece on it.
On SBT1 I visited the year 6 class in my school and they had been reading a collection of short stories, and the teacher had got them to create a story board of their own short story, based on elements of the collection. The teacher provided the children with copies of pages from the book and the illustrations they may like to use as inspiration. Then the children turned this into a short story. A similar task could be used for Gavin’s collection.

A discussion of Gavin’s use of fonts and the positioning of the words is important. This often portrays what is happening in the book, helps make key elements stand out, and can provide movement (e.g. the words position like worms wiggling out of Lu’s mouth).

Another key point is Gavin’s use of birds. Particular birds are often associated with particular aspects such as death, souls, wisdom etc. And Gavin makes use of the choice of birds wisely.

[Lauren Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book full of a collection of Jamila Gavin's fairy tales. All of the fairy tales in this book are unique n their own way however when reading them you can clearly see influences of other fairy tales which are well known, such as in 'Blackberry Blue' when you can see ideas taken from Cinderella and from snow white. Most of the tales in this collection follow a similar structure where it starts off happy, then a 'bad person' is introduced, and then, as most fairy tales do, there is a happy ending.

The tales in this collection are all descriptive and use lots of adjectives. This creates a clear image in the reader's head and allows them to become part of the story as they are reading it. There are also a range of sentence types used by the although as well as a variation of punctuation. This would be a good text to use for an Literacy lesson based on sentence types and punctuation, as well as a sequence of lessons based on fairy tales where the children need to create and write their own fairy tales in the style that Jamila Gavin uses.

Foreshadowing is also used in some of these fairy tales in this collection. For example, in 'Blackberry Blue' foreshadowing is used where they suggest that Prince Wolf could be an actual wolf and then this becomes a reality at the end of the story.

My favourite story in this collection was 'The Purple Lady'. This is because of the large amount of mystery and adventure that the tale included. This was effective as it allowed me to create an image in my mind of what it would be like to be in the tale and also left me wanting to find out what was going to happen next.

To create a receptive context for this book in a classroom, I could create a display about fairy tales. We could also do a series of lessons based on Jamila Gavin and her fairy tales where the outcome is for the children to write their own in her style, as mentioned previously. Most of these tales could also include the use of drama or been turned into a short play for the children to act out the parts. Aspects of this collection could also link to science as there is lots of focus on nature.

I would definitely recommend reading this collection of tales. I would suggest it would be better to use in a ks2 classroom, however it could be used in ks1 if the class teacher or TA was reading the tales to the children.

[Melissa Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackberry blue is a book by Jamila Gavin. A series of fictional stories each with an intriguing moral within them.
• Likes
I particularly enjoyed reading this book as it is a type of book that I usually like reading due to its almost fairy-tale like manner. My favourite story within the book was ‘The Purple Lady’ as it was the strong moral within the story of sacrificing for a loved one like what Abu did for his sister Leyla.
• Dislikes
My main dislike about this book was the fact that you wouldn’t be able to use much within primary school. Many of the stories may be considered as quite scary for younger readers so I would only use for Y5 children and upwards.
• Patterns/Puzzles
The most prominent pattern that was seen throughout each story was that it’s important to remember the moral to the story. Each story has its own individual moral that became known to the reader, either that be never losing hope or not being greedy.
• How would I use this in the classroom? And how would I grab the children’s attention and familiarise them with the text?
There are many ways in which you could use this within the classroom, for example, you could use this in drama. Children could enact parts of the different stories or even change the story slightly to how they believe each story could have ended. Also you could use this in RE, investigating what morals are or linking to the 7 deadly sins.

[Nathan Litten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackberry Blue - Jamila Gavin
Of the six short stories in this book, I loved the first four and hated the last two. The first stories have fantastic messages and beautiful character development. Whereas the last two stories have obscure messages and no characters I found to have any redeeming qualities. This also shows how well written the book is that it can make me angry at an entire set of characters in a short story.
My favourite story is the golden carp and the purple lady is pure nightmare fuel that you can’t put down. I read the book in one sitting and it felt like only five minutes had passed to read each story; when in reality I was sat there engrossed for hours. I would definitely recommend this book for adults to read as each story has an almost childhood memory attached to it. This sense of an almost distant memory constantly lingers and familiarity is embedded throughout. The impact of the book straying from these warm fuzzy feelings instantly affects you and you almost feel as the characters in the stories do. Cold and straying from the path.
Though the illustrations in this book are brief, they are impactful and incredibly accurate. They encompass exactly how I envisioned the characters and settings to look in my mind. This book can be used in a primary setting but you would certainly have to know your class well and how they would deal with some of the themes and inevitable discussions following the stories.

[Taylor Hutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another really lovely book, all of the short stories are brilliant.

Loved the main theme of the main characters overcoming some sort of adversity, which I think would be very inspiring within the classroom. The stories also take classic tropes and conventions from very recognisable fairy stories, which all children would be familiar with, thus making them easy for all children to enjoy.
My personal favourite of the stories was 'The Golden Carp', it reminded me a lot of my dad.

The book offers a lot of opportunities for use within the classroom, such as;
English - offering inspiration for children to write their own fairy tales, with new twists.
Art - give the children a chance to illustrate the stories/their own tales.
History - explore the historical contexts behind the traditional tales, why were these tales written in the first place?
Georgraphy - also look at how fairy tales differ from country to country, yet still have similar aspects (witches, kings/queens, etc).

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book has a creative take on traditional fairy tales which we have known to love widely. Blackberry blue especially revels in the themes of the classic ‘Cinderella’ but removes the stereotype of ‘damsel in distress” take we usually identify with it these old fashioned tales. Blackberry blue determines her own fate alongside her mother, the blackberry bush, and the woodcutter and his wife before they pass.

Rather than waiting around for her prince to save her she helps the prince get better and allows him to see the real intentions of his step brother and his fathers new wife.

In the classroom this would be a perfect text to explore especially in this forever evolving world with regards to women’s rights and flipping the typical role of women that previous generations are used too. Young children will be able to explore these ideas and themes across their society and generation

[Zoe Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it included lots of different spin offs from normal fairytales and they weren’t too long. I think a class may enjoy hearing these fairytales and pulling them apart to think about what the characters included learnt. I would recommend this book as the fairytales are unique and interesting so you could do a lesson on comparing these fairytales to the more traditional ones.

[Jordan Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag of stories. 'The night princess' is absolutely beautiful, with gorgeous imagery and a heart wrenching ending. 'The purple lady' has a fantastically scary villain, beautifully and hauntingly described, and reads almost like a Greek legend, with the hero having to complete a number of tasks to fulfil his purpose. However, I generally didn't enjoy the other stories, especially the golden carp. Whilst the book did introduce some much-needed racial diversity into the mix as well as some more complex themes than in many fairy stories, it stuck rigidly to some frustrating tropes such as 'beauty = goodness' and 'step parents are always evil'. At times, particularly with the latter, this became very repetitive. Also, the pacing was often off, with moments that should have felt perilous being squashed into too little time. For example, the time that Joy is stuck in the queen's castle could have been very sinister, but it was brushed over in less than two pages. Similarly, in the Golden Carp, the story spent lots of time explaining some plot points whilst others were swept over as deus ex machina-type events. Nevertheless, it is an enchanting book with beautiful illustrations, and the stories that it gets right do a very good job of changing up the genre.

[Kym · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating fairytales that transported me to new worlds. Such creative, yet familiar, storylines that allow all children to see themselves reflected in the main characters.

- The tiny little baby girl with lips like crushed damsons; her tightly curled hair shone like threads of black gold and her eyes glistened like blackberries. The most beautiful girl anyone had ever seen.

[Chloe Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of fairytales in this book as each one shows a different genre essentially which allowed me to stay engaged! Further, I love the illustrations throughout the book as it provided further enjoyment compared to a standard novel. I would love to read these fairytales with a year 4, 5 or 6 class as they aren't your classic fairytales which makes it enjoyable for elder children still.

[Charlotte Yardy]

This is a great book for all ages. Although it still follows the traditional pattern and layout of a fairytale the stories that are included are more diverse. Offering children and wide variety of stories to choose from

[Kelly Fitzgibbons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely fairytales rewritten and tweaked with a diverse cast of characters.

[ABEER · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read children’s books much and I picked this book randomly but dare I say this book is beyond great. There are 6 different fairytales that will take you to a world full of adventures, mystery, and love. I really appreciate this book because of how the writer emphasized on how important are fairytales and I believe that in every culture there should be such a book that reflects the stories that have been told for years and years by our ancestors. The most important thing was the illustrations, they are undeniably the biggest part of the book, I loved them so much and I loved how easily I could imagine the stories because of them.

[Ryan Brinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being truthful, i did not expect to like this at all. I imagined the usual fairy tales with slight darkened twists. However the plots for these short stories are quite endearing with small pockets of other traditional tales woven in, with 'like characters' incorporated. Most similarly we can see in Blackberry Blue the relation back to the Cinderella storyline with the idea of an ideal 'prince charming' individual and a hard done by girl who simply wants to escape her harsh reality. The inclusion of a 'fairy godmother' like character to swoop in and save the day draws a nice parallel to the conventions of usual fairy tales and allows for a strong resolution following dark turns.

The cover of the book truly does reflect the nature of the short novels it contains, it is dark, sinister and at times a little twisted yet there is always a light which can be found in the end. The transformation of the lady's dress can suggest to us the transformations of the original fairy tales and also hints at the first tale. Each story brings something different and the fact that they are concise allows us to be fully captured by the goings on and we are not left in too much suspense, yet there is still opportunity to question things as a reader. I found the stories to be fast-paced and therefore more enjoyable as tension was built up but not drawn out so long that we feel frustrated as readers.

Personally, my favourite story was 'the purple lady' which followed the journey of a boy to retrieve the bones of his sister who had been captured by the purple lady. She wants the bodies and souls of the young people of the town in order to capture youth, she does this by looking into their eyes- you must always keep your eyes covered when near the purple lady. We learn of this boy, Abu, and his bravery to do what nobody has ever done before, risking everything on an adventure to find his sister and save her life. It is an emotional journey which we often fear he will never see the end of, though is a key displaying of resilience as he continues battling on no matter have many set backs and how many people tell him not to. It is also a tale of companionship as we see his cat Miskouri accompanying him on his mission every step of the way. The theme of sacrifice can also be highlighted as Abu had to lose one of his eyes as a consequence for using the temporary blinding spell, though this was very much worth it when weighing up what he got back in return- his sister. There is an ore of mystery and wonder throughout and Jamila manages to encapsulated us in her descriptive and suspenseful context.

In the classroom I would certainly be looking at directing this towards KS2 to allow them the opportunity to explore the stories deeper in a receptive context with the potential of creating a setting/scene in the classroom similar to that in the text, such as the cave/under the sea, in order to inspire children to write creatively about the book. We could explore the concepts of good and evil and move the children to thinking about RE and thinking philosophically. There are a range of activities which could lead on from reading this book and hence i would highly recommend it to schools and young people.

[Ty Deedigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blackberry Blue is an interesting read with many different stories to keep the reader enticed throughout the whole novel. I found the short tales gave a quick paced tempo to the book which meant it was hard to put down when you started reading one of the stories. Each brought a new moral or lesson to the book and could be effectively used in a classroom setting to teach a subject such as PSHE. Blackberry Blue itself makes for an intriguing read as it plays off the classic tale of a poor maiden falling for the handsome prince, loosely based off the tale of Cinderella with a few more twists and turns to the story.

The book as a whole was enjoyable and I found many aspects that I liked such as the shorter stories and the subtle link of classic tales with a dark twist. The book uses intriguing and colourful language to set a vivid scene and express detailed emotions and opinions of each character.

I also found another link between each story I enjoyed was the use of song as a basis for a few of the stories; whether that be the dreadful song of the violin in Oddboy or the harmonic melody in the Golden Carp. In the class these tales could be read to the students during a music lesson to inspire them to come up with their own rhymes or lyrics to portray a story of their choosing. KS2 could base a performance off of one of the songs in this book and create their own story from it, not necessarily the one that it came from.

I feel that due to the darker and more “evil” nature of some of these stories they would be best utilised in KS2 where the true underlying meanings could be explored further. But I do think one such as ‘Blackberry Blue’ could be explored in younger years especially if referencing Cinderella to further solidify their understanding of each story and to start using their skills of finding similarities and differences in texts.

However, certain texts I may not use in school as I felt they tended to drag on so the plot sometimes grew to be boring due to the sheer length of time it was taking to draw to either the plot twist or the conclusion of the tale. Thus, leading to disinterest in the book and subsequently what they were learning as a whole.

The main links I could establish between the tales was that they are all based on myths and legends such as talking animals and trees and the idea of finding something or getting somewhere as being the main aim of each story. They are an interesting and entertaining read for many ages and could be an inspiring start for children to write more stories from or to base a piece of work on. An area of the curriculum that I think could create a strong link to this book is expressive arts with the recurring theme of music and theatre in the pieces. Not only could children use it as a scaffold for a piece of work they could use it as a template or springboard as well where they can create and explore their own style.

[Flora Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I love the way this book is split into different stories by sections. I feel it makes the book a great manageable read for children becoming more confident and reading independently. In addition, it helps develop that love for reading that is so important for children. This is because the children will be positively reinforced feeling like they’re reading a full novel like they may see modelled on parents, siblings, teachers or older students, but actually it is far more achievable.

I think the illustrations and the way the words are laid out on the pages are brilliant and so engaging for children because it is so different. The different tales are so different to anything I have ever read before, they follow similar lay outs to traditional tales however they’re very different and creative.

I think the fairy-tale ‘Blackberry Blue,’ is really different to any other tale I have read before. I think this story could be used in so many different ways, from book predictions, to drama, to art. The story follows along the classic fairy-tale structure, including the classic characters of a lovely queen that tragically dies, an evil queen, princes and a king. Talking about similarities and differences of Blackerry Blue and a classic fairy-tale like Cinderella would be very useful for a class to show how creative fairy-tales can be.

I think the illustrations in the book really add to the story. A really fun activity for children could be drawing what they think a character looks like from the description in the book, and then comparing it to what is in the novel.

I think this book could be used in so many different ways in the classroom. The book could be used across many different genres of writing for the children, spending one lesson familiarising the children with the style of writing, the next looking at examples and planning, and then the third almost doing a silent concentrated writing lesson where they write up the work in best. For example making missing posters for the prince when he gets lost and is made into a wolf. Or writing and decorating invites for the balls the king holds. Writing diary entries including emotive language for how Blackberry Blue feels in different stages. Writing a newspaper article on the events that have occurred. Writing a set of instructions for how to weave the dresses Blackberry Blue wore etc.

Equally this book could be used to create drama, art and much more. It could be used for drama by children acting out what they think might happen next in the book, or creating freeze frames for the most important sections of the book. In art the children could draw what they think the characters might look like based on the descriptions or decorate invites they make for the balls.

[Gabriella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just read Blackberry Blue and Co. The book contains short stories. Some are based on similar traditional tales but adapted and re-modelled. Some were sinister and may not be suitable for younger children. All engaging and gripping stories. The stories include morals/ messages in each story. Some illustrations/ borders included, however, there are big chunks of writing.

There are many teaching opportunities for the stories:

Questions:
Is the forest a safe or a threatening place in this story? How does Jamila Gavin make you feel that?
• Does this story have a message? If so, what do you think it is?
• Do you know any other fairy tales where the characters transform into animals? What does this make you
think or feel?
• Do you know any fairy stories where a character has to wear a special item of clothing?

The Golden Carp:
Read the preface to this story. Do you agree that Greed and Laziness are two of the deadliest sins? Why do you think Jamila Gavin writes ‘… because they lead to other evils.’ What do you think this story will be about? How could a Golden Carp be involved in the story?

The Purple Lady:
Abu meets Shast who tells him what he must do to rescue Leyla.
Find out about the Hindu goddess, Shasti. What does she have in connection with the old woman in The Purple Lady?
How important is Miskouri to the story? What would have happened to Abu if he didn’t have Miskouri with him? Are there any points in the story where Abu takes the lead? Why do you think Shasti demands an eye for helping Abu to rescue Leyla?
‘A figure in purple caught his eye…. to ‘simply slipped through the bars’. Who do they think this woman is? Reread and ask the children to visualise the character and then draw what they see.