It’s our stop on the Greenwild blog tour today and I’m thrilled to be able to share a guest post by author Pari Thomson. Pari’s richly imagined middle grade novel Greenwild is filled to bursting with the magic of nature, wonderful friendships, and a gripping mystery that will keep those pages turning. Here she is sharing her top five books featuring portals to other worlds!
Pari Thomson: My top five books featuring portals to other worlds
Greenwild is about an eleven-year-old girl called Daisy Thistledown who stumbles through a silver door hidden in the Palm House in Kew Gardens – and discovers a secret, magical world called the Greenwild. Of course, this is part of a long tradition of portals in children’s books – one I spent most of my childhood absorbing. Here are five of my favourites:
There’s only one way to begin this list, really, and that’s with the most famous of all children’s portal fantasies: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I don’t think anyone ever forgets that moment when Lucy Pevensie steps through the back of an ordinary wardrobe and into the snow-covered land of Narnia, with the glowing lamppost in the winter forest. It’s pure magic.
I was very young when I first read Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce, but I’ve returned to it many times since. It’s the story of a boy called Tom who is sent to stay with his aunt and uncle for the summer. Their old house is full of memories, and every night when the old grandfather clock strikes thirteen, it becomes the entrance to a mysterious garden. It’s hard to think of a more perfect book.
No list of portal fantasies would be complete without Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. It was the first book she wrote in the wonderful Chrestomanci series, and it features a boy called Cat, who (although he doesn’t know it yet) is an enchanter with nine lives. The portal magic in this book is tricky and inventive, and the sheer wit and verve of the writing are unmatched anywhere else.
More recently, I’ve fallen in love with the outstanding Clock of Stars trilogy by Francesca Gibbons. It’s about two sisters, Imogen and Marie, who follow a mysterious silver moth through a door in a tree – and find themselves in a magical kingdom with a spoiled prince, a dancing bear, and far more adventure than they’d bargained for. It’s exciting, funny, and gorgeously illustrated by Chris Riddell.
Finally, of course, there’s Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read the story of Lyra Belacqua and her journey to the Artic to rescue her missing friend Roger. Along the way, Lyra meets witches and Gyptians and armoured bears – and, finally, finds a doorway to another world. The whole His Dark Materials trilogy is heady and terrifying and life-changing and wise – a perfect example of how books are themselves portals. Take one off the shelf, open it up, and fall inside.
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