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A review by lory_enterenchanted
The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
4.5
Read in preparation for Witch Week 2024 readalong. The Armitage family stories are delightful reads in the vein of E. Nesbit and Diana Wynne Jones. They start with pure juvenile silliness -- Aiken started writing them as a teenager -- and move through some darker and more complex moods, while the Armitages remain basically the same ordinary family with magical benefits.
The best stories are the three concerning "Mr Johansen" and his lost princess -- a sequence left tantalizingly unresolved. (The Serial Garden, Mrs. Nutti's Fireplace, and The Looking Glass Tree) TLGT was the first of the Armitage stories I ever read, in Cricket Magazine when I was 8 years old. It haunts me still!
The best stories are the three concerning "Mr Johansen" and his lost princess -- a sequence left tantalizingly unresolved. (The Serial Garden, Mrs. Nutti's Fireplace, and The Looking Glass Tree) TLGT was the first of the Armitage stories I ever read, in Cricket Magazine when I was 8 years old. It haunts me still!