The Brontės: Scenes from the Childhood of Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne - Softcover

Brighton, Catherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845073347 ISBN 13: 9781845073343

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2005

Synopsis

All children play at make-believe, but Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne Bronte went one step further, creating and chronicling their own charmed universe in the remote parsonage at Haworth. Thrilling encounters on the bleak Yorkshire moors, imaginary battles, hours absorbed in making miniature books of poems and stories. Scene by scene, Catherine Brighton's haunting images reveal the secret childhood of one of literature's most unusual households - a family touched by genius.

About this title

About the Author:

Catherine Brighton trained at St Martin's College of Art and the Royal College of Art. She has held exhibitions of her work in the Barbican, London, at the Bath Festival, and at a Southern Arts travelling exhibition. She is now a successful full-time author/illustrator of children's books. She lives in London.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-4-Brighton, whose child's-eye view of Mozart (Doubleday, 1990) may enlighten young music lovers, has attempted to illuminate four other prodigies-the Bronte children-by illustrating parts of Charlotte's early journals. It is unlikely that readers will come to this book with any experience or knowledge of the subject, and the use of Charlotte's own words precludes much explanation of just who these children were. The author tries to compensate for this by providing a very brief prologue and epilogue to put the journal entries in context. Many of Charlotte's vignettes are charming fantasies or thumbnail sketches of life on the moors. They have an appeal that may entice youthful dreamers. The detailed watercolors evoke the openness of the landscape, but Brighton's attempts to illustrate the children's fantasies within the scenes of their real life are less successful. The characters' faces have a flat, universal quality and vary little from those depicted in her other books, except in hairstyle and clothing. This might be the sort of serendipitous reading that will be dimly remembered and provide easier entry to Jane Eyre later on.
Sally Margolis, Deerfield Public Library, IL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1845073347
• ISBN 13: 9781845073343
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32