The Magic of Reading
Reading is a magical experience. That’s a given, but there are just some books which open up your eyes and your sense of wonder like nothing else. One book in particular, not out until February 8 needs to be on your TBR list. Near the top if not at the top. It’s set in a toy emporium in London – with brief visits to Leigh on sea, the French battlefields and even Russia….but it’s the world of the toyshop which shimmers ….
Just one month to go…
BookTrail The ToyMakers here
The shop is sadly fictional ( but don’t the best things happen in your imagination anyway?) but it’s located in a mews beside Claridge’s hotel and its competitor is one very well known Hamley’s store….
This book creates a fictional and imaginative world which sums up the magic of childhood and of reading. The writing flows and weaves a magical spell throughout…
The Toymakers poster
The store could very well be a bookshop for all the magic and wonderment it contains inside..
“It opens with the first frost of winter….”
During the summer months the store becomes a haven of activity on the inside with the workers and the Godman brothers, sons of the owner Papa John vying to be named sole heir and best toymaker to impress their father. Their at first friendly rivalry will have long lasting consequences…
Who are these two men? and what are they discussing?
The toyshop doesn’t just have toys inside but all kinds of childhood paraphernalia. There’s a Wendy House which is bigger on the inside than on the outside (bit like a Tardis) and toy soldiers who can be wound up and given instruction. There’s boxes of paper trees which once open flutter their branches until they’re fully grown trees creating a magical childhood forest….the rest you have to discover for yourself.
The Toymakers soldier on the pages
And who is Papa Jack?
“A man who would one day find ways to invent whole worlds”
Can you remember those days of when you’d go inside a toyshop and feel that sense of magic and amazement? What that Wendy House meant to you? Mine was a castle, a book shop (funnily enough) a post office, a changing room where I’d be Mr Ben and change my clothes, coming out to my next adventure. Mother must have though that the best purchase ever for the hours and hours of enjoyment it created.
The Toymakers – there he is!
The magic of books and the worlds they create is a key feature of the novel. Remember the wonders of those adventures you had with Gulliver’s Travels? What about Jules Verne stories? Ever really thought about them and the sense of wonder and awe they created then, and what you realise they often mean in adulthood? Great stories stay with you for ever
Oh and wait till you enter a pop up book…..you are in for a real treat!
Travelling to a destination:
“Papa Jack’s Emporium, it seemed, was a destination, not some place to be discovered by pedestrians idling by.”
Like a good book, toys and the memories attached have special powers:
” A toy cannot save a life but it can save a soul”
“There’s a shared heritage in toys. Take any man and show him a hobby horse and a little piece of him will be a boy again”
I was swept up in this magical Toy Emporium in London as soon as the first frost appeared and its doors opened. There are some very sad and poignant moments in the book and the secrets of the store will make tears form in your eyes. But rest assured, this book is magical and thought provoking and something truly special.
