Cry of the Icemark - Stuart Hill

Book Review by Ewen Keller

When I first picked up this book I was intrigued by the blurb on the back talking about Thirrin, a fourteen year old girl who must take up the burden of being queen of a little known kingdom, The Icemark, after her father is killed in battle. It mentions how she has to adapt to the role in the face of almost certain defeat and death at the hands of the evil Polypontian Empire but that her greatest strengths lie in her ability to forge very unlikely alliances against all odds.

Indeed the first chapter starts with Thirrin almost being killed by a werewolf that she is hunting, but this encounter and how she reacts subsequently, defines the very essence of the book.

Once started, this tale is a real page turner, with loads of amazing characters, some good and some not so, but things are not always what they seem. This world is set at a time very similar to that of the Roman Empire and Thirrin has a certain similarity to Queen Boudica but werewolves, witches, armies of trees and vampires take the reader into another realm. The book manages to balance a heady mix of action, battles, sadness and humour in such a way as to appeal to all ages and both girls and boys. The ending is brilliant but I’m not going to spoil anything by saying that the sequel which I am just about finished, continues the tale with Thirrin and her family and many familiar faces, both friend and foe.

All in all an excellent read, which left me wanting more.

Busy Beavers & Creative Cubs

In support of the Linton Children's Book Festival, the First Linton Scouts Group have been busy sending in their photos of Beavers, Cubs and Scouts reading books in unusual places or positions. Whoever would read a book on a giant snowball?

At their meeting next week they are also going to be reading from books from around the world and drawing their own pictures.

You can see a display of their contributions at the Infants School on Saturday 10th May.

Bookmark Winners Decided

We had 90 entries to our "Design a Gruffalo Bookmark" competition. Kim Simmons and the staff at the Zoo judged the comptition and took into account imagination and inventiveness, use of colour and the name given to the imaginary animal. She tells us that she was most impressed with the designs and that the staff had a lot of fun choosing the winners.

So, the winning designs have been sent today (special delivery) to Biddles Limited, the publisher who will make them into bookmarks.

Prizes will be awarded by Axel Scheffler on Saturday 10th May and you will be able to see a display of all the designs at the Infant school on Saturday 10th May and at Linton Village College on Sunday 11th May.

Ticket Availability Update - 27 April

After the first week of bookings, we are delighted to report that our events are proving very popular - so there is definitely going to be a real buzz around Linton during Bookfest week!

We still have a few tickets left for Chalemina's Nursery Rhyme Show on Weds 7th May at 10.30am in Linton Village Hall - but they are going fast - so give the booking hotline a ring on 01223 837456 if you want to be sure of a place.

On Saturday 10th May, we still have good availability for Obelon Puppets and Tony Mitton in the main hall of the Infants School. Although Axel Scheffler and the workshops are at full capacity, you can still plan a great day out with our drop-in storytime sessions and music activities - so why not check the programme and ring us to reserve your places?

On Sunday 11th May at Linton Village College, we only have a few slots left for the Spymasters Challenge - so get on the phone quickly if you were thinking of taking part. We have tickets left for all three speakers in the main hall - Val Bloom at 1pm, Stuart Hill at 2.30pm and Joe Craig at 3.45pm. All three are guaranteed to inform and entertain - you can find out more on the website.

Looking forward to hearing from you...

Come across a Bookcrossing book?

This week 40 bookcrossing books will be hidden, or sometimes just placed very obviously in locations around Linton. These are free books and are starting their journey round the world from here.

Please do pick them up and discover what you should do next, by going to the website. http://www.bookcrossing.com/.

Good luck!

Tickets Now Available!

Now that the priority booking period is closed, tickets will be available to the general public from Monday morning (21 April).

Our friends at Sawston Books have kindly agreed to be our "box office" - so call them to book your places on 01223 837456 (open Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm).

We won't be issuing physical tickets as there won't be time to put them all in the post - but we will take your name and address and this will be sufficient to gain entry on the day. If you have any questions, please call and we will do our best to answer them.

We did get a really good response from Linton schools in our priority booking period - so, as you can probably imagine, some events are already at capacity. We have posted the current availability of tickets on the programme page of the website - so you can check before you call.

For those of you who wanted to see Axel Scheffler - sorry! - his talk is full already. We will open a waiting list for returns so it is worth ringing in anyway. And remember, the lucky prizewinners from our bookmark competition will receive their prizes from Axel - so why not have a go? - the templates can be downloaded from the front page of the website.

There are plenty of tickets left for other events on the Saturday - including Obelon Puppets, Tony Mitton and the Fairyland Trust's Wand Making Workshops. And lots to do on Sunday as well!

So we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Children's History Walk with Garth Collard

One of the many good things about organising a book festival is finding out amazing stuff about the place you have been living for 10 years - and meeting some amazing people as well.

Garth Collard is one such person. We really wanted to involve him this time around because he has been enthusing students at the Village College all his professional life - and has recently been recognised with the award of an MBE for his services to local history.

Garth has kindly agreed to lead a Children's History walk recreating the Battle of Linton that took place in 1648 - during the latter phase of the English Civil War. It will kick off our Festival on Saturday 3 May - starting at 2pm in The Grip.

You may be forgiven for thinking (as we did...) that this battle was an insignificant footnote in the wider ebb and flow of the war. But you would be wrong.

At the time, King Charles 1 was imprisoned on the Isle of Wight but still fomenting unrest against Parliament and the country's new leaders. There was widespread and genuine hatred of the harsh puritanical laws that the new regime had brought in. Rebellions broke out in Wales, Scotland, Kent and Essex. The New Model Army was split, with Cromwell heading north and Fairfax staying in the south - and fighting raged during the summer of 1648.

Following the Battle of Maidstone, the charismatic Royalist commander Sir Charles Lucas fell back to Colchester and was beseiged by Fairfax. But in Cambridgeshire a force of rebels prepared to march south and relieve the siege. Fairfax despatched Colonel John Sparrow with a company of 600 men to deal with this threat.

As Sparrow approached from Saffron Walden, he fought brief skirmishes with the retreating rebels in Ashdon and Haws Hill (behind Hadstock).

Early in the morning of June 16th, Sparrow advanced down Long Lane where he met and dealt with further resistance. He then turned his main force into Linton High Street and fought his way down the narrow streets and alleys into the Churchyard - where the rebels surrendered after a brief struggle.

The rest - as they say - is history. The Linton rebellion was the last hope for the Colchester garrison who surrendered barely a month later. The Scottish and Welsh risings were crushed in August 1648 and the New Model Army effectively established a military dictatorship. King Charles 1 was executed on 30 January 1649.

Quite apart from the pivotal role that the battle played in the course of the Civil War and sealing Charles' fate, the thought of the hand-to-hand fighting that must have raged down Linton's quiet lanes is quite astounding. It must have been terrifying for the civilian population - let alone the combatants. A chilling echo of today's urban conflicts that play out on our TV news bulletins.

We hope to bring this event alive for a new generation of Lintonians on 3 May. We look forward to seeing you then!

Joe Craig / Jimmy Coates

Has put a link to our book festival on his blog. Find out more about him on http://turkeyonthehill.blogspot.com/

Joe has just had his latest book Jimmy Coates: Survival published here in the UK. I'm not party to the Spymaster / Joe Craig mission collusion happening on 11th May at Linton Village College but I gather it might be worth reading Joe's books if you want to win top prize!

REMINDER - BOOKING DEADLINE

I hope you have enjoyed the Easter break, and been mulling over who you would like to meet and what you would like to do at the upcoming Linton Children's Bookfestival.

All Linton children have the opportunity to pre-book their tickets for events at the weekend 10-11 May before the general public. The latest your priority booking form should be in is THIS FRIDAY (11th April). Please hand the forms in to your schools.

We will distribute tickets week commencing 14th April and then the public can book tickets from 21st April.

The event is being widely advertised and since the events are FREE we expect some events to be booked up quickly.

Good luck.