Clockwork or All Wound Up (Philip Pullman)

(For those interested:
Owen finds this book very
much to his taste.
It now has toothmarks)

This tiny little book is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. It made my hairs stand on end more than once, it is so creepy. It seems all sweet from the start, but it goes both scary and grotesque soon enough. At the same time it stays heartwarming and can tell us something what it is to be human.

"Once upon a time (when time ran by clockwork), a strange event took place in a little German town", or so it says on page 11. This event involves the two young men Karl and Fritz. Karl is an apprentice clockmaker, and Karl a writer. Tomorrow is Karl's big day, but he is not looking forwards to it because he has not done his task. Fritz, on the other hand, is reading his latest story at the tavern without having found an end to it. I think it is safe to say that there is an ending in store for it, and the way there is a good read.

The language of this "children's novel" may be a little advanced for some Norwegian students, but if you already like reading in English, you should be fine. I put some quotation marks in there, because I think this little gem of a book may be read with equal delight by grown-ups, perhaps even greater. You may also find a few references to other literary works.

So lovely!

Then there are the illustrations, which are very lovely, and also little boxes of side notes. Sometimes they will comment directly on what the characters are doing, at other times they give information or opinions on things mentioned in the text. Every time they are entertaining.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story, or a sort of ghost story told in a charming and humoros way, and to students who are doing ok with the English language but struggle with very long books. Enjoy, you are in for a treat.