Summary
A funny, spiky, brilliant heroine, a book beloved by Lucy Mangan (Bookworm) a forgotten gem brought back into print by Vintage Children’s Classics.
A forgotten classic brought back into print for the first time in decades - the missing literary sister to Anne of Green Gables and Tracy Beaker, a tough and spirited girl’s adventures growing up in a northern post-war mining town.
‘I told our Lucy I’m going to be a writer when I grow up and she said, ‘You should be a good one then…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781784875039 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1784875031 |
| Author: | Gwen Grant |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Vintage Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 176 |
| Release Date: | 7 May 2019 |
| Weight: | 121g |
| Dimensions: | 11mm x 129mm x 188mm |
| Audience Age: | 9-11 |
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Critics Review
Private-Keep Out! should rank alongside Just William as an indispensable part of the children’s canon. Alas, and for no better reason that I can discern than the vagaries of chance and/or the misalignment of planets on publication, it has so far failed to find its rightful place. So let me state for the record: the public has been deprived of one of the funniest children’s books ever written – Lucy Mangan * Bookworm *
In Lucy Mangan’s childhood reading memoir Bookworm, she describes the significance of discovering Gwen Grant’s book Private – Keep Out! and reading about a family dynamic that she recognised from her own life, but hadn’t found in any other stories. “At last,” she explains, “I could see my family from the outside in … we were still in some fundamental ways outsiders. I think about Private – Keep Out! whenever arguments about diversity and representation in books break out.” * Independent *
Gwen Grant
Gwen Grant was born in 1940 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and lives there still. When she was twelve years old, she was Highly Commended in a national competition for her essay on the Cocoa Bean - she has written ever since. Her many books for children include Private - Keep Out, its sequels Knock and Wait and One Way Only; The Lily Pickle Band Book and The Revolutionary’s Daughter. She is also a published poet.
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