Where Were You, Robert?
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Cover Story
This issue’s cover, illustrated by David Wyatt, is from Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Kite Rider (0 19 271860 6, £6.99 pbk) due to be published in March. Geraldine McCaughrean is interviewed by Stephanie Nettell. Thanks to Oxford University Press for their help in producing this January cover.
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Where Were You, Robert?
Anthea Bell
Robert, who 'isn't with us at all' according to his teacher, disappears - and reappears at several times and places in the past. The answer to the title includes: Siberia in 1956, Australia in 1946 and then back through the centuries, into Germany, Norway, Holland, and taken in by a mix of people, including his own great-grandparents. A great strength of the book is the particularity of each of the times and places, which is history come to life, sharply and vividly catching some of the everyday quality and difference of lives bound by their geography, politics and beliefs. The sequence is less satisfying with Robert's involvement uneven and at times, seemingly a device to connect the series of vivid scenes. I am left wanting to see what all this experience and knowledge adds up to for Robert.