Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce

Staff review by Chris Saliba

When an old grandfather clock strikes 13 at midnight, a new world is revealed to a young boy.

Tom Long is sent to live with his Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen when his brother, Peter, develops measles. They live in a block of flats that was once a large old country house. It’s a rather grim, urban building, with no garden, only an uninspiring yard that is used to park cars and leave rubbish. Tom is unhappy; he’d rather be home with his brother Pete.

At night he notices the strange grandfather clock in the communal hallway. It keeps odd hours, and at midnight strikes 13 times. Tom decides to get up and explore. He opens the backdoor and instead of  the dingy backyard, he finds it transformed into a magical garden from the Victorian era. He meets a young girl named Hatty.

As Tom develops more of a friendship with Hatty, he discovers she is an orphan, having lost both her parents. Time moves back and forth as Tom visits the midnight garden again and again, and he gets to know Hatty at different times of her life. Eventually, at the end of Tom’s stay, the midnight garden disappears and Tom screams in shock. Only then does the mysterious landlady Mrs Bartholomew explain the secrets of the garden.

First published in 1958, Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden is a nostalgic fantasy that idealises a lost Victorian world of pleasure gardens and beautiful mansions. It has a hazy, dreamy quality that works almost like a narcotic on the reader. Philippa Pearce skilfully creates a fantastic yet believable Arcadia, fully imagined in intricate detail. When contrasted against the drab suburban environment of the block of flats, it seems only right that the midnight garden exists, if only in dreams.

A children’s novel that demonstrates the central place fantasy takes in our emotional life, even how it contributes to our well being.

Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce. Published by HarperCollins. ISBN: 9780062696588 RRP: 14.99

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A Dog So Small, by Philippa Pearce

Staff review by Chris Saliba

A faithfully drawn story about a working class family and its sensitive middle child.

Ben Blewitt is the middle child in a working-class family of five children. Even though Ben is part of a big family, life can be lonely as the middle child. Ben hopes that by getting a dog for his upcoming birthday, this will go some way to making his life a little less lonely. His grandfather has promised to get him one. But when the day of his birthday arrives, all he gets from his grandparents is a woolwork picture of a chihuahua. The real dog, as promised, has not materialised. Granny has said they can't afford to give a dog. If they did, they would have to give one to each of their grandchildren, and they have many.

Ben is plunged into a gloominess. Why can't he have a dog? He starts to imagine he owns the chihuahua in the picture by closing his eyes. This habit gets him into quite a bit of strife – at school and with his parents. Then one day he crosses the road with his eyes closed and later finds himself in hospital. But maybe Ben's luck is about to change when Grandpa and Granny's dog, Tilly, has a litter. If he can only find a place nearby to run a dog, then maybe he can have one of the pups.

Philippa Pearce's 1962 novel for children, A Dog So Small, is a faithfully drawn story about a working class family and its sensitive middle child. The scenes that involve Ben's grandparents, Granny and Grandpa, are wonderfully realistic and full of warmth. Pearce has clearly filled her story with many personal experiences and memories. Her storytelling is true to life. Readers who have enjoyed Eve Garnett's The Family from One End Street and Noel Streatfeild The Bell Family will embrace this wise and humble story.

A Dog So Small, by Philippa Pearce. Published by Puffin. ISBN: 9780141355191 RRP: $14.99

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