Midnight Blue

This is a welcome re-issue of Fisk's debut novel of about ten years ago. Much praised then, and winner of the Smarties Grand Prix in 1990, it is a richly coloured fantasy, whose story grows from the hopes and fears of Bonnie, its central character. She is trying to make a new life with Maybelle, a mother she scarcely knows, and to escape the grip of her embittered grandmother. Whether in the graffiti stained block of flats where the story begins or in the bucolic never land to which Bonnie escapes, she faces the same choices. Fisk makes intriguing use of themes drawn from earlier children's literature. Children who meet them here for the first tiem will find plenty to intrigue and puzzle them. However, it is the endearingly fallible Bonnie and the irredeemably appalling Grandbag that will hold their attention. The warmth and reassurance that Fisk conveys throughout, even when dealing with the most difficult emotional situations, makes the tale suitable for children as young as eight.