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L. A. Gilmore's The Crooked Compass is a magical adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who finds a photo hidden in a frame and goes looking for her mum's past.
Erinn isn't like the other kids at school. Strange things happen when she's around, and everyone whispers about it.
On the last day of term, in a huge thunderstorm, she sees a younger boy slip from a bridge. He stops in mid-air, just above the ground. Then he runs off shouting that she's a witch.
Erinn lives with her dad, Alan, a weather scientist, in a cul-de-sac in the north of England. Her mum died when Erinn was a baby, lost in a storm at sea.
That night her mum's photo frame cracks open. Hidden behind the only picture she's got is a second photo. Her mum with two other women, and one of them looks just like Erinn. On the back it says it was taken at a birthday at the Crooked Compass.
So while Dad's away for the weekend, Erinn empties her piggy bank and sets off for Scotland on buses and trains. Alone.
Meanwhile, three young goblins called Turk, Gobo and Brick are sneaking into a farmer's barn to pinch two fat chickens for a family birthday dinner. Brick is one of the strongest goblins in their city and completely terrified of fluffy chicks. It's very funny!
The two stories run side by side, and you can feel them getting closer together. The pub Erinn finally finds looks like a ruin from outside, but inside it's warm and full of people, and there's a compass on the shelf whose needle won't sit still.
It feels very British in a nice cosy way. Trainers, 50p coins, chicken pie and sticky toffee pudding.
A couple of things to know first. Erinn fibs to her dad, tells the landlord she's sixteen, and travels hundreds of miles on her own. The story opens with twin bullies punching a younger boy on the bridge, too. None of it's dwelt on, but it's a good one to chat about if your reader's likely to get ideas!
If your reader loves the idea of a secret world tucked right next to ours, they'll enjoy this.
If they like a girl with a mystery in her own family and a LOT of weather, try Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella. It rains every day in Harper's city, and the magic umbrella she's never been allowed to touch was left to her by someone whose name the wind snatches away.
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