Bradshaw, Peter (6 February 2009). "The Secret of Moonacre". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 September 2019. Of the characters, I especially loved Maria and Robin, and Marmaduke Scarlet. While Marmaduke Scarlet seems harsh at first, it seems to be merely a façade, and he makes the funniest remarks. Of course, all the dear animals hold a special place, but I find myself particularly fond of Wrolf and Zechariah.

If I could describe this book in one word, it would definatly be "gorgeous". The language, the atmosphere... I almost forgot about reality reading it! You may be thinking "who wants to read a book about a little white horse?" Honestly, its not like that at all. The book is much, much more than tea parties and riding sidesaddle, although we first meet the characters in a lovely horse-draw carrige... Cogle, Fleur (5 October 2009). "The Secret of Moonacre". Stuff.co.nz . Retrieved 20 September 2019. a b "The Secret of Moonacre, Film Fantasi Interaktif"[The Secret of Moonacre, Interactive Fantasy Film]. 21 Cineplex (in Indonesian). 16 June 2009. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017 . Retrieved 16 September 2019. Film Review: The Secret of Moonacre". CBBC Newsround. BBC News. 26 February 2009 . Retrieved 2 October 2020.Reynolds, Simon (5 February 2009). "The Secret of Moonacre". Digital Spy . Retrieved 15 September 2019. Some people may have seen the film loosely based on this book, I read this aloud to my daughter, who realised she had seen the film but as it turned out the book is quite different to the film. a b c d e "The Secret of Moonacre (2009)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016 . Retrieved 1 December 2016. Quinn, Anthony (6 February 2009). "The Secret of Moonacre (U)". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009 . Retrieved 15 September 2019. Goudge's first book, The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919), was a failure and it was several years before she authored Island Magic (1934), which is based on Channel Island stories, many of which she had learned from her mother, who was from Guernsey. After the death of her father, Goudge and her mother went to Devon, and eventually wound up living there in a small cottage. There, she wrote prolifically and was happy.

For three, she doesn’t marry a prince. Indeed, pretty much nobody in this story ends up marrying within their social class, although Loveday was at one point at least closer to Sir Benjamin’s social class. Until, that is, she ran away and married an attorney and became a housekeeper. Miss Heliotrope, the daughter of a not exactly wealthy village rector, falls in love with a French marquis—although when they do eventually marry, that title has been left well behind. And Maria, the proud Moon Princess, marries a shepherd boy. Though since Robin can visit Maria in his dreams, that’s perhaps not that surprising.

LoveReading4Kids Says

though pink was not her favorite colour, it was a colour and, as Sir Benjamin had said, all colour is of the sun, and good. And pink is the colour of dawn and sunset, the link between day and night. Sun and moon alike ought both to love pink, because when one is rising and the other setting they so often greet each other across an expanse of rosy sky." Yet Elizabeth maintains and uses many of the other ingredients of the current adventure books of the day. There is the map that Sir Benjamin shows her of the valley of Moonacre, surrounded by its green hills very much as Wells is situated, the tunnels which bore through them, and the passages and caves down from the pine woods to the sea, with the hidden treasure of the Moon Princess along the way, the robbers in the pine wood, sinister shapes in the landscape, all could have come from any children’s adventure book. But the didactic elements! Man, I see why Goudge set the story in 1842 instead of a century later, when it was actually written. Over and over, the emphasis on Maria having to learn to accept and embody feminine virtues (and they are explicitly denoted as feminine, repeatedly). Be obedient. Don't ask questions. Sacrifice for others (although, interesting, Maria never ends up having to sacrifice much, she pretty much gets her own way and leads a pretty princessy lifestyle). Don't be proud. Forgive everything. Above all, don't quarrel. Finally, Old Parson, the vicar of Silverydew, a formidable person of great intellectual and spiritual power, the Mentor of the story. Who, never the less is given a very human twist at the end of the tale.

Goudge won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. [2] It has been adapted for film and television. a b c Maher, Kevin (13 May 2010). "The Secret of Moonacre: Predictable". The National . Retrieved 15 September 2019. I think that this is a book that would work best read in childhood – and I do wish I had discovered it as a child – but it still has a great deal to offer to the grown-up reader who is still in touch with her inner child who loved books. And then, of course, there are all of the wonderful companions Maria meets, quite like the magical helpers in classic fairy tales: the amazingly gifted, focused and very short cook Marmaduke Scarlet; the Old Parson, filled with tales of the past, who may or may not have a Mysterious Connection with Miss Heliotrope; Wrolf, who may or may not be a dog; Zachariah, a most remarkable cat (he’s able to draw and sort of write with his paws); Serena, a hare; Loveday, who was once a Moon Princess; and her son Robin, a boy about Maria’s age, who once played with her in London. Well. Kinda. Let’s just say Maria is convinced he did, and this is, after all, a book about magic. What Beautiful Eyes!: Jane Heliotrope is described has having a beaky puce colored nose and a hairstyle of ringlets that's twenty years too young for her, but she does have very nice blue eyes.

The book and its adaptations show examples of:

Adaptation Distillation: Basically, Gabor Csupo took the book's characters, and went off and did his own thing. The manor house is in fact a Norman castle, set in a valley, surrounded by green rounded hills, with the village of Silverydew at the foot of the cone of Paradise hill. The house is inhabited by her cousin, his male cook Marmaduke Scarlett and the coachman Digweed. It is the proud boast of them all that “You (Miss Heliotrope) and Maria are the first members of the fair sex to set foot in this house for twenty years.”(Goudge 1946 p26) The Little White Horse is a low fantasy children's novel by Elizabeth Goudge, first published by the University of London Press in 1946 with illustrations by C. Walter Hodges, and Anne Yvonne Gilbert in 1992. Coward–McCann published a US edition next year. [1] Set in 1842, it features a recently orphaned teenage girl who is sent to the manor house of her cousin and guardian in the West Country of England. The estate, village, and vicinity are shrouded in mystery and magic; the "little white horse" is a unicorn. The detailed descriptions were wonderful, the vocabulary was really good, the feeling of magic in the book and an enjoyable final chapter that told you what happened in the years following. I was suprised that Maria married at 14 yrs, although she chose this I would rather she was older but I suppose as this was set in the 1840s this could have been something that would have happened then. There are many times in the book I saw parts that had perhaps influenced others I have known and loved. I thought that Wrolf was reminiscent of Aslan and another part mentions a yew tree man that she had been afraid of had now lost it's evil feeling, which reminded me of the children of Green Knowe, and it was interesting to read this knowing it was a childhood favourite of JK Rowling. The ending was all too pat and easy, and OMG Maria gets MARRIED at 14, what the Hell?! She is no Juliet, either, she is consistently described like a little girl throughout the book. I thought it was pretty creepy when her future husband's mother was putting her in her future wedding dress the first time they meet, but I had no expectation that she was getting married during this book. Gross.