Pea’s Book of Holidays : Susie Day

When I finished this, all I could think was: “I don’t read enough of Susie Day’s books.” These Pea books are glorious, wondrous things, full of heart and love and I am still glowing with the post-reading feeling several days later.

I am burning with love for this book, the latest in the Pea series, this book of holiday adventures in Corfe *coughEnidBlytonland* Castle. And genuinely, it’s like Christmas for anyone who has a healthy love for Enid Blyton stories, adventure, and Girls And Boys Being Awesome.

One thing I want to highlight in this book is how beautifully simple it is with regards to representations of diversity. The issues of diversity in children’s literature is one which is rightly very much debated at present. In Pea’s Book of Holidays we have a whole range of characters of diverse appearances, diverse family structures, diverse sexualities and diverse physical attributes. And the great gift that Day has is that she presents it just – how it is. It’s not a highlighted, box-ticking exercise; it’s just a reflection of the diverse society of our modern day world. I love her greatly for her ability in achieving a simple, matter-of-fact reality and I was a little bit in awe of her story-telling ability throughout.

I love this book. There’s such a purity of story in it, of fun and love and adventure, that I can’t really be coherent in reviewing it for you. What I can say is that I can’t recommend it enough and have made myself a promise to pick up the rest in the series, and everything else done by Day, as soon as humanly possible.

View all my reviews