'A ride in the countryside spirals out of control for Meg and Merlin in this dramatic new addition to Tanya Landman’s lovable horse-riding series.
'Meg and her new friend Sam Houseman meet up to take their horses out on a hack, but after a lovely day in the countryside, Meg gets lost while making her way home. Then things take a dangerous turn when Merlin gets spooked and takes off, galloping straight towards a main road ... Can Meg get him back under control before disaster strikes?'
Tanya Landman adds a third entry to their popular Meg and Merlin series of children's book, a series that chronicles the adventures of a young girl and the horse that she's befriended.
For those coming to this book afresh (as I did) it begins with a helpful breakdown of what's come before, explaining how Meg and Merlin met, and the fact that he's not her horse. Instead of being her horse, Merlin belongs to another family in the village where she lives, but thanks to the bond that the two of them have she's allowed to spend as much time with him as she wants, and can take him out for rides any time.
In this book, entitled Running Away, we meet up with Meg as she's planning to go off on a country ride with her new friend Sam. Sam is a bit more of an experienced rider than Meg, and she's part of the local horse clubs and takes part in riding events. The book seems to be building up the fact that Sam has something of an overbearing and controlling mother, and that she's finding it difficult to ever fully please her mother. As such, when the two girls and their horses go out for a ride and they talk about how fun it would be to run away forever and live with their horses without the expectations of their parents and society, the book seems to be leading the reader to make certain conclusions about what the plot is going to be.
However, in a bit of sneaky narrative trickery, this is not what happens at all. On the way back home a series of events causes Merlin to spook, and he runs away out of control. I thought that this was an excellent twist upon expectations. Rather than telling a rather expected story of a child thinking life would be better if they ran away before realising running away is scary and going back home we've got a realistic story about how dangerous horses can be.
Horses tend to get quite romanticised, especially in fiction for younger readers. And whilst this series does do that to a certain extent, it's going out of its way to warn children that even the most experienced and well trained horse can spook, and that that can put the rider in a lot of danger. There's a point in the book where Meg states very clearly that if she doesn't stop Merlin before they reach a certain point the two of them will be killed. It's good that this message is being made, its showing the readers that you should never really take things for granted, and that even the most normal and mundane situations can have the potential to turn dangerous. It's a good reminder to kids that you need to keep your cool and think with a level head when these things happen.
Meg and Merlin: Running Away is also filled with a lot of illustrations, and it does feel like there are more here than with your average Barrington Stoke book. The art is provided by Sònia Albert. The art is really bold and clear, and is really easy to see and understand what's happening in the moments that have been illustrated. The cover shows how bright and bold the art is in colour, but it still remains enjoyable throughout the interior in black and white.
Meg and Merlin: Running Away is a great addition to the series. It's building upon things that have come before, and seems to be setting up some stuff for future adventures. It has a good message about how to handle yourself in a tough, scary situation, and I think that young readers are going to have a great time with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment