Hal

by Jean MacGibbon

This novel charts the friendship between Barry, a shy sickly boy, and Hal, the extrovert West Indian girl who befriends him.

204 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Ben Aaronovitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: all my reviews are driven by caprice, whimsy and in this case rampant nostalgia. I remember having this read to me in primary school and it left an indelible impression. It was first book I'd ever read about children who were like me, living in an environment like mine, thinking and doing the things that I did.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not quite make it for me.

It started out well with good primary characters, interesting situations and vivid descriptions of an aspect of English childhood I didn't know much about.

It fizzled out a bit though; a lot of the interesting characters and sub-plots do not go anywhere. The primary characters meander for a bit too long with nothing happening.

The ages lost me a bit too, it is meant for 11-12 year olds and I get that in the 70's there was a different notion of developmental ages. But the characters seem to me to be both too young and too old for the ages they are meant to be.

Not a bad book just not as good as it could have been.