Marianne and Mark

Marianne and the Magic Drawing Pencil #2

by Catherine Storr

Brighton is a good place for a holiday, but not when you are fourteen years old, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Marianne is so desperately lonely that almost any friend seems better than none. This tensely exciting story is also a perceptive and sympathetic study of the problems of growing up.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Author Catherine Storr was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and went on to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge. She then went to medical school and worked part-time as a Senior Medical Officer in the Department of Psychological Medicine of the Middlesex Hospital from 1950 to 1963.

Her first book was published in 1940, but was not successful. It was not until the 1950s that her books became popular. She wrote mostly children's books as well as books for adults, plays, short stories, and adapted one of her novels into an opera libretto. She published more than 30 children's books, but is best known for Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Marianne Dreams, which was made into a television series and a film.

Reviews

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this some years ago but although the same characters are featured, it isn't anything like Marianne Dreams. It takes place in the real world and is more about relationships of young teenagers.

I had it in hardcover with a different illustration, but am unable to add it here as I didn't bother to keep after reading.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's how I got here: I love the film Paperhouse (1988), which was based on the book Marianne Dreams, which I then tracked down and read and found it had a sequel! Great! But the sequel is out of print and copies were going for silly money on eBay. So I put it in my saved searches and waited for someone who had no idea what a copy was worth to sell one, and finally three years later, that person showed up and I got a copy.

I wish I could say it was worth the wait.

In this sequel Marianne is in Brighton staying with her aunt and uncle. Does she use her magic drawing pencil to escape again? No. The pencil is neither in this book, nor mentioned. So how is this a sequel? Oh, because of Mark, who doesn't show up until three-quarters of the way through the book, and then neither of them mention the time they spent together in Marianne's dream world. So, it never happened? Basically, just forget everything that made the first book special and magical?

Instead of anything cool like the first book, this one is basically a teen coming-of-age story from a girl's point of view. Marianne navigates the world of bitchy girls who claim to be her friends, financial responsibility, curiosity about her unknown future, and, of course, boys.

Imagine watching and loving the first Matrix movie, but when you watch the sequel, they don't use or even mention the matrix, but instead go to a seaside town in England and get in angsty, kitchen sink drama situations. Would that satisfy you?

This is truly one of the worst sequels I've ever read. Though the writing is fine and the story mildly interesting, it's not what I came here for. It bears little to no relation to the first book except the characters having the same names, and TBH I thought Mark was a bit of a know-it-all when he showed up. I don't remember him being so unlikeable in the first book.

The only good thing about this book is I'll make a healthy profit on it when I sell it.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequel to the enthralling (and better known) Marianne Dreams

[Karolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I enjoyed a lot of things about this book, but it's a disappointing sequel to Marianne Dreams.

[Tobyleaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange and beautiful book, but read Marianne Dreams first.