Greg
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Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by Fangorn is taken from Brian Jacques’ Lord Brocktree (Hutchinson, 0 09 176877 2, £12.99), the thirteenth title in the internationally best-selling Redwall series. Salamandastron, the ancestral home of the Badger Lords, is under threat from Ungatt Trunn, an enemy whose power would seem to be absolute and whose evil knows no bounds. The only hope for survival is the badger Lord Brocktree who is drawn to the fortress by an undeniable sense of destiny. Brian Jacques' masterful storytelling as always spins a web of high adventure that will enthral the reader from the first page to the last. Thanks to Hutchinson Children’s Books for their help in producing this September cover.
Greg
Anthea Bell
Metaphors for the transition from childhood to adolescence are many and varied in children's books, but one of the most original must be this novel in which Greg, aged thirteen, wakes one morning to find he is no longer a boy but a very large caterpillar. He retains, however, the intellect and emotions of a human. While obviously frustrating and frightening, Greg also finds his new form enables him to behave in certain ways not deemed appropriate for a human of his age, as, for example, in an hilarious scene when he gives her comeuppance to Gina, the ghastly television presenter. Greg was originally published in German, and is one in a series of books in translation published by Mammoth. At present there is a great deal of translation from English into other languages, but far too few in the opposite direction. Let's hope that Greg is the beginning of a trend for inward translation.