The Dragonfly Pool

at First Tally Doesn't Want To Go To The Boarding School Called Delderton. But She Soon Discovers That It Is A Wonderful Place Where Freedom And Selfexpression Are Valued. Tally Organizes A Ragtag Dance Troupe So The School Can Participate In An International Folk Dancing Festival In Bergania In The Summer Of 1939. There She Befriends Karil, The Crown Prince, Who Would Love Nothing More Than To Have Ordinary Friends And Attend A School Like Delderton. When Karil's Father Is Assassinated, It Is Up To Tally And Her Friends To Help Karil Escape The Nazis And The Bleak Future He Has Inherited.

voya

free-spirited Educators, Exotic Pets, Experiential Classes-welcome To Delderton Hall, A Progressive Boarding School In England On The Cusp Of World War Ii. Meet Tally, The Twelve-year-old Inquisitive, Determined, Adventurous Scholarship Student Who, Along With Readers, Discovers The Delights Of Outdoor Biology With Diverse Classmates. With Hitler On The Move, Tense Action Migrates To The Fictional Monarchy Of Bergania When Students Attend A Folk-dancing Festival Organized By The King Who Refuses To Heil. Assassins, Spies, And Thugs Disturb The Joyful Gathering. Although Political At Times, The Novel Focuses Mainly On Friendships And Interpersonal Level Freedom. Although Tally Is The Center Of This Omniscient Tale, Award-winning Austrian British Author Ibbotson Creates Multiple, Clearly Delineated, Memorable Characters-both Middle Schoolers And Adults. Taste, For Example, The Description Of Two Aunts As Plump Turnip-shaped Ladies With Big Bosoms And Short Legs, Like Roots. Inviting Sporadic Sketches Dot The Manuscript. Readers Become Familiar With A Sackbutt, Rugger, Rusks, And Sayings Such As, You Cannot Stop The Birds Of Sorrow From Flying Over Your Head, But You Can Stop Them Nesting In Your Hair. Historical Fiction Through The Eyes Of Sensitive Youth Who Want To Make Friends And Continue Education In A World Upended Makes For A Compelling, Satisfying Read. Ibbotson's Novel, Fairly Fast Paced And Generally Light In Tone, Would Make A Dynamic Companion To The Darker Goodnight, Mr. Tom By Michelle Magorian (harper, 1982/voya June 1982), Which Also Takes Place Before And During The London Blitz. Reviewer: Patti Sylvester Spencer