Changes

|title=Shipley Manor

|author=Tim Walker

|buy=Maybe

|borrow=Maybe

|pages=176

|publisher=Faber Children's Books

|date=July 2007

|isbn=978-0571232840

}}

In this children's book, it is the hero Tom that initially puts everyone to shame. Due to a tragedy when he lost his mother to other people's recklessness, he is very staid and died-in-the-wool, perhaps a typical banker's son. He refuses to break any rules, doesn't believe in magic, never reads children's fantasy books.

I can recommend the book as an interesting if flawed adventure, that only really leans towards the fantasy, nestling as it does in the "those pesky adults!" style of children's fiction, but only to those who have read much of everything else they have got their hands on. There are better books out there (and [[Palace of Laughter]] is one, in fact still my children's book of the year so far), but this is still worth considering.

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