Hob and the Goblins

William Mayne looked at the word "hobgoblins" and decided it would be better split in two. So he invented Hob, the existential Puck-like sprite full of goodwill, self-doubt, forgetfulness, unexpected courage, and lots of magic. A marvellous creation! Then Mayne placed him at the center of a revisiting of old legends - the fairy world where time doesn't pass, the crock of gold, the goblins, the nasty witch with her familiar. All set in and around an old no-mod-cons cottage in the heart of Wales, where a London bus-driver and his family have come to stay. Little did they know the cottage was a gateway to the land of Faerie, where their great-great-uncle had gone and was about to return having stolen the crock of gold, and even less did they realize that goblins do not take kindly to having their gold stolen. . . Mayne is an excellent stylist, with a crisp, no-words-wasted use of language. No purple patches here. A particular charm is that cause and effect, or owner and owned, are neatly turned inside out: here's Hob remembering a time when he wore clothes (not a good idea for Hob, distracts him from his duties): "There had been laces full of shoe, holes full of sock. The laces had become wildly undone, tripped Hob up and escaped with the shoes and the socks. He had had pockets with breeches, a row of neat little holes with a belt round them and a buckle to keep them together. The breeches had vanished when the holes in the belt ganged up and stopped working." A total delight for, as the saying goes, "children of all ages."

A great little book to kickstart a lifetime of reading. I'd buy this book for any kid's gift-getting occasion :-) Wonderful read-aloud story.

I recently read Hob aloud to two kids (10 and 12) and we all had a ball. Every single time one of the kids had a question Mayne answered it in the very next sentence. He seems to have an almost magical understanding of the way kids' minds work. Hob's particular take on the world has warped us forever

As one who works in a school, I can now scarcely wait for school to start so I can share this with the kids. The imaginative langauge used to describe inanimate objects as Hob sees them opens new ways of viewing the world. The adventure comes full circle and by the end of what could have been, but isn't, a very pat goblin it is impossible not to want a Hob around the house. The letters used to begin each chapter are alone worth the price of the book. This is one book that I can't imagine not reading again and again for a new look at the world.