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The Dragonfly Pool Review

The thing which seems to define Eva Ibbotson's heroines are their unorthodox natures, their ability to listen and their kindness. in 11 year old Tally, the heroine of this story Ibbotson has created another heroine of this type in a satisfying adventure/romance for all ages.

Tally is motherless girl in London just prior to World War II. Her father is a local doctor who serves his community rather than getting rich, and she is raised by her Aunts. Meanwhile Tally's uncle is a rich doctor who values money and prestige over substance. Tally's cousins both go to posh boarding schools with uniforms and strong discipine.

When Tally is offered a scholarship to a boarding school in Devon she decides to go but with some fears having heard her cousins talking about it, but Tally's school is quite different. Possibly based on Summerhill, it is a free school where students do not wear uniform and are encouraged to take charge of their own education. where botany lessons might start at 4 in the morning with a field trip to look at badgers, and drama is pretending to be a fork. Tally and her friends meet at the Pet Hut to discuss things.

A chance letter from a small European country sends them to Bergania where the King is trying to hold off the Nazi's and his son, the Crown Prince is lonely - another motherless child who is brought up by the Countess Frederica who he refers to as 'the scold'.

When the King is assasinated it is Tally and her friends from Delderton who rescue him, smuggling him back to England where he is taken back to live with his grandfather, the Duke of Rottingdean and his three uncles and Aunts all of whom have been deposed from the countries they ruled. He is again living a hopeless life of imprisonment, kept trapped by his title as the heir to the throne of Bergania which is now overrun by Germany.

There is nothing which Crown Prince Karil loathes more than his title and airs and graces and it is his need to escape this imrprisonment which dominates most of the book. In the background is Tally.

It is interesting that Tally and Karil meet for a very short period of time and it is only a few days travelling back from Bergania that they are together, but for anyone who has ever been in a fraught situation it is amazing how quickly a close relationship can be formed. There is clearly a future for these two but it is, in the end left very much in limbo just what this will be.

Ibbotson is very good at tying up lots of loose ends in her books, so the characters lives are resolved in this - Kit gets to play his cricket, and the Mongolian Pedastal dog manages to perform a service to destiny without ever having the messenger from Brazil to fulfill his breeding destiny. However I was surprised not to hear more about the aunts who were prominent at the start, or about the displaced children in the village near Delderton, who seemed to be mentioned and then forgotten.

However this is a lovely and enjoyable story which can be enjoyed by teenages are well as adults.

The Dragonfly Pool Feature

ISBN13: 9780142414866
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

The Dragonfly Pool Overview

A beloved New York Times bestselling author returns to paper!

At first Tally doesn’t want to go to the boarding school called Delderton. But soon she discovers that it’s a wonderful place, where freedom and selfexpression are valued. Enamored of Bergania, a erene and peaceful country led by a noble king, Tally organizes a dance troupe to attend the international folk dancing festival there. There she meets Karil, the crown prince, who wants nothing more than ordinary friends. But when Karil’s father is assassinated, it’s up to Tally and her friends to help Karil escape the Nazis and the bleak future he’s inherited.

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Customer Reviews

The Dragonfly Pool - J. Grambo - Indiana, USA
Tally is the daughter of an impoverished doctor, and Karil is the son of a king. In 1939, as heir to a throne, Karyl would not ever have met a commoner. But uncommon things were happening in Europe, and when Karil's father is assassinated, Tally finds that she and her schoolmates are in a position to save the crown prince from capture and cruel imprisonment by those who murdered his father. With ingenuity and good humor, the students not only save Karil, but become good friends with him in the process. Ages 9-14

one of those books you wish you'd actually bought - -
I finished The dragonfly Pool about five minutes ago and was in a rush to review it here so everybody else can hear about this AWESOME book and get to read it too. This was one of those books that you don't want to put down but when you have to to eat, and go to school and you think about the book a huge smile goes across your face, you start hyperventilating, and your heart rate goes up. I was almost afraid to finish the book because I thought it would be like some other books I've read. The ones where the majority of the book is completely entrancing and then the ending stinks so much you almost want to cry. SeeParade of Shadows as a prime example of this. Anyway, this book wasn't like that, perfectly beautiful from start to finish.
P.S. I made the mistake of getting this book from the library. Don't do that because you'll want to read it over and over. This book is so worth fifteen bucks.

not just about being safe - Mara Zonderman - NY
The king of a Bergania (a fictional country, though one that seems a lot like Switzerland) refuses to allow Hitler's troops to march through his country. Seeing this on a newreel at the movies, Tally is struck by his courage, and also interested in the prince, who's face she can't really see, obscured as it is by the plumes from his helmet. When the headmaster of Delderton (her boarding school) brings up an invitation to go to Bergania to participate in a folk dancing festival, Tally jumps at the chance, even though neither she nor any of her friends have any experience with folk dancing. Little do they know that their arrival in Bergania will coincide with a Nazi plot to get rid of the king and kidnap the prince.

That Tally and her friends are able to smuggle the prince out of the country is really only half of this story. The other half is what happens to the prince once he's safely in England. Because he has family there, and as in other Ibbotson stories, his family is fairly horrible. They are convinced that they must continue his training so that he can assume his rightful place on the throne of Bergania after the war. Except that he doesn't really want to be king. He wants to join Tally and her friends at Delderton.

And that's what this book is really about. It's about finding your place in the world, or making your place in the world, if the one that's set out for you isn't right. It's also about friendship and family and justice. If you've read other books by Ibbotson, you may find her books to be a bit formulaic, but this book is none the less charming for being similar to others.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jul 05, 2010 12:50:06

Children's Books

Monday, July 5, 2010