Brown-ears

This story is pure magic! Stephen Lawhead is a new author to me although he apparently writes science fiction and fantasy books for adults. I started by feeling faintly uncomfortable with the Kipling-style dialogue with the reader but came to appreciate that it really does work! The children loved the cliff hangers at the end of each chapter and the bitter-sweet ending produced many thoughtful faces. Brown-ears, a floppy bunny belonging to Ross, has a lamentable tendency to get lost. The story begins as the family, returning from holiday, lose him in the middle of the night on the bus to Oxford. The very real loss that Ross feels is treated sensitively and the adventures and characters that Brown-ears encounters kept all my infants on the edge of their seats. It could be nightmare-provoking though, so some care needs to be taken as to when the reading breaks occur.