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A review by katykelly
D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber
4.0
Great concept, if horrific for language lovers!
One morning, Dhikilo wakes up and notices that nobody is saying the letter D anymore. It's missing from road signs. And it's only her that seems able to talk about it.
A mix of features from The Phantom Tollbooth and Ella Minnow Pea (yes that's a book title) is woven into the fantasy story, where the girl and a dog/sphinx are tasked by her ancient history teacher to travel into another world and try and fix the problem, before it become permanent.
Episodic in a Wonderland-type way, Dhikilo and Nelly Robinson (best dog name ever?) have to learn to work together and face up to various problems, foes and threats as they try to work out what has happened and how - and if - they can stop the loss of a letter for good.
There was less wordplay than I was expecting for a book about language. I found it a little hard to listen to the audio version with missing letters as it was sometimes tricky to work out what words were being spoken, though context did resolve this.
A decent adventure with some memorable scenes and minor characters, and nice to see Dhikilo, herself from another culture and adopted, at the forefront and standing up for her roots, her name and her culture (it's Somaliland NOT Somalia).
Probably for ages 9 and above.
One morning, Dhikilo wakes up and notices that nobody is saying the letter D anymore. It's missing from road signs. And it's only her that seems able to talk about it.
A mix of features from The Phantom Tollbooth and Ella Minnow Pea (yes that's a book title) is woven into the fantasy story, where the girl and a dog/sphinx are tasked by her ancient history teacher to travel into another world and try and fix the problem, before it become permanent.
Episodic in a Wonderland-type way, Dhikilo and Nelly Robinson (best dog name ever?) have to learn to work together and face up to various problems, foes and threats as they try to work out what has happened and how - and if - they can stop the loss of a letter for good.
There was less wordplay than I was expecting for a book about language. I found it a little hard to listen to the audio version with missing letters as it was sometimes tricky to work out what words were being spoken, though context did resolve this.
A decent adventure with some memorable scenes and minor characters, and nice to see Dhikilo, herself from another culture and adopted, at the forefront and standing up for her roots, her name and her culture (it's Somaliland NOT Somalia).
Probably for ages 9 and above.