February the 29th

by Kenneth Steven, Louise Ho (Illustrator)

Toby Goodwin's mother is very ill. So just before his birthday in February he is to stay with his mad inventor uncle. But Toby discovers that his strange birthday and Uncle Nichol's latest invention have far more to do with his mother than he could ever have guessed.

Aimed at 8-12 year olds, February the 29th is another cracking story of imagination and adventure from one of Scotland's finest children's authors.

128 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2009

About the author

Kenneth Steven is a translator, writer, and poet. His longest translation, The Half Brother, was long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and short-listed for the international IMPAC Award. He often completes work for NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad).

He lives in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.

Reviews

[Jono McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely yarn best read by a warm fire with a mug of cocoa. While the characters do at times feel two dimensional, the magical story and the beautiful reflections on such topics as the stars and time forgives it for that. Additionally, Steven creates a whole world that the reader longs to go and explore, which is exactly what an adventure story should do. And I don't just mean the literal new world; I also mean Alumbria: that picturesque tower library, the attic, the cat, the dogs and the goats: it all adds up to create the sort of country home we all want to spend the Winter in.