The Starburster

by Berlie Doherty

An enchanting tale full of charm and invention about a quest to rescue a little girl.When his baby sister, Blue, is stolen by fairies, it falls to young Tam to venture to the land of Faery and win her back. It is a hazardous journey and Tam must keep his wits about him as he crosses the Sapphire lake, does battle with the castle nightmares, and finally confronts the King and Queen of the fairies.

Genres: Fantasy

199 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2004

About the author

Berlie Doherty née Hollingsworth is an English novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for children's books, for which she has twice won the Carnegie Medal.She has also written novels for adults, plays for theatre and radio, television series and libretti for children's opera.

Reviews

[Chóe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đọc cùng con gái, nhiều lúc khá vui.

[Laura87 · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The Starburster’ (written by the Carnegie Medal winning author Berlie Doherty) is about a young boy called Tam who one day, discovers that he is no longer an only child.

Tam doesn’t want a little sister. He wishes she would go away. Trying to cheer Tam up, Great-Grandpa gives him a gift; a kaleidoscope also known to Tam as a ‘Starburster’. He is ecstatic! Tam can see all these beautiful shapes split into different forms. Tam is very happy until one morning he wakes to find that his new sister Blue has been abducted and replaced by an ugly changeling (a fairy child). Determined to get his sister back, Tam goes on an adventure to the land of the fairies to get baby Blue, meanwhile having to resist temptation otherwise he will be forced to stay in the fairy land forever. Tam is given a choice; lose Blue forever or hand over the one thing he values the most in the world, his Starburster. Will Tam resist temptation? Will Tam save his sister?

Doherty creates a magical story through the use of description and imagery. The part I particularly enjoyed was Tam’s determination to get his sister back, even if it meant he would get hurt along the way. Furthermore, Doherty’s illustrations helped to capture the imaginative world that we were reading about.

‘The Starburster’ I suggest would be perfect for children (aged 9-11) who are keen to read alone and develop their independent reading skills. Secondly, I feel that this story would be good to use when talking about sibling relationships, especially if there is a new baby in the family. We see Tam’s opinion of his baby sister change throughout the story and children would most probably notice these emotions within themselves at some point in their lives. Finally, ‘The Starburster’ would be good to use during a Literacy lesson whereby children could create their own magical world or base their writing about a hero through the use of adjectives and description.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mình thấy cốt truyện khá đơn giản, không có gì đặc sắc.

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[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

mp3 workaday. Younger.

A changeling baby means a trip into fairy for 9 year old Tam

[Kaitlyn Ngoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely in love with this book! The writing style is great and the plot is super interesting. I would prefer this to "The little prince" anytime.