Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

An eccentric cast of characters, human and animal, features in this first novel for adults by comic actress Toksvig. When eleven-year-old tomboy Dorothy Kane moves with her upper-class English parents to the small town of Sassaspaneck, New York, the result is bewilderment on every side. The Kanes are a family of "partial communicators", physically remote and emotionally vague: "I suppose a lot of people have never seen their father naked; I had never seen mine without a tie." Confronted with a 1960s America shaken by a war in Vietnam, by campaigns for civil rights and women's liberation, Dorothy's parents retreat into crisis, leaving her to pick her own, troubled way through the last, crucial summer of her childhood.

She receives help and inspiration from an unlikely source: a trio of women who live on the edge of town in a dilapidated zoo. Gradually she uncovers details of the zoo's flamboyant and tragic history, its origins in passion and extravagant wealth, the secrets and betrayals surrounding its decline. It is a history that touches the lives of all the people of Sassaspaneck. With Dorothy's help, old wounds are healed and new bonds forged, as the women of the town are drawn into a struggle to save the zoo from property developers--and to provide a new home for Artemesia, a tightrope-walking African elephant.

Whistling for the Elephants is a gently comic novel about transformation and the getting of wisdom; about finding the ways to make being a girl "just fine"; and about relearning from the animal kingdom those lessons of love and fidelity that human beings as a species are apt to forget. --Sarah Waters

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

AN ELEPHANTINE TALE WHICH HAD ME IN STICHES!, 29 Dec 2007
it seems to be the thing nowadays for comics to write a book - most are very disappointing - this is a brilliant and excentric exception which is a comic delight! Sandi evokes the childhood belwilderment of a misfit childhood, misfit parents, misfit zoo owners and the misfit inhabitants of small town America, with comic precision and an air of mystery and moments of genuine pathos. Sandi shouldn`t stick to her day job!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute.

A little bit rushed, 04 Sep 2003
Havng recently read Flying Under Bridges, I thought I would enjoy Sandi Toksvig's "Whistling for the Elephants"...I'm sorry to say that even though it appears pregnant with potential, it's never delivered. Set around a young English tomboy trying to find her place in a small American suburb in the 1960's, I thought the characterisations were well developed and clearly easy to identify with, as with a lot of Sandi's female characters. I thought the arrival of the elephants wasn't to the scale that the book had set the reader up for and the final "act" where Pearl's son drowns was not made more of as part of the plot. This could safely have been a longer book where Sandi Toksvig could have developed some of the wit and the detail. I thought the scenes of flashbacks were largely unneccesary as they gave away the mystery of some of the characters and they were largely uninteresting and didn't seem particularly authentic. Writing for a particular period is difficult at the best of times even when well-researched but to intermingle two time frames can be jarring. More risk could have been taken with the ending. I will continue to read books by Sandi Toksvig and would still recommend this book to readers who would like to see her tackling strong issues such as racism, sexism, female emancipation and the issues of the 1960's in general, because she does them justice. However, this is really a book that owes its readers more as I felt it was a bigger book waiting to spill out.

A fantastic fantasy, 17 Nov 2002
From the first chapter I was hooked. I sped through this book faster than I have ever read anything else. Captured into this fantasticly unbelievable world of a young girl and her weird home life in a new country. Written in her wonderfully witty way Sandi takes you on a mystery tour that captures your imagination. You will find yourself being taken through a variety of emotions.
I have now bought Flying Under Bridges and can't wait to discover the further tallents of this fantasticly clever and funny lady. Quite simply brilliant reading!

Hugely disappointing, 21 Apr 2002
Having experienced Sandi's humour on screen, I was much looking forward to reading more of the same. Was it me? I gamely struggled through to the end of the book, but didn't find it at all enjoyable.

A brilliant read., 10 Oct 2001
I really really enjoyed reading this book. It was funny, emotional, involving, interesting and above all very original. I loved Sandi's writing style; it made the book really easy to read. The characterisation was truly superb and the story was excellent.

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

AN ELEPHANTINE TALE WHICH HAD ME IN STICHES!, 29 Dec 2007
it seems to be the thing nowadays for comics to write a book - most are very disappointing - this is a brilliant and excentric exception which is a comic delight! Sandi evokes the childhood belwilderment of a misfit childhood, misfit parents, misfit zoo owners and the misfit inhabitants of small town America, with comic precision and an air of mystery and moments of genuine pathos. Sandi shouldn`t stick to her day job!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute.

A little bit rushed, 04 Sep 2003
Havng recently read Flying Under Bridges, I thought I would enjoy Sandi Toksvig's "Whistling for the Elephants"...I'm sorry to say that even though it appears pregnant with potential, it's never delivered. Set around a young English tomboy trying to find her place in a small American suburb in the 1960's, I thought the characterisations were well developed and clearly easy to identify with, as with a lot of Sandi's female characters. I thought the arrival of the elephants wasn't to the scale that the book had set the reader up for and the final "act" where Pearl's son drowns was not made more of as part of the plot. This could safely have been a longer book where Sandi Toksvig could have developed some of the wit and the detail. I thought the scenes of flashbacks were largely unneccesary as they gave away the mystery of some of the characters and they were largely uninteresting and didn't seem particularly authentic. Writing for a particular period is difficult at the best of times even when well-researched but to intermingle two time frames can be jarring. More risk could have been taken with the ending. I will continue to read books by Sandi Toksvig and would still recommend this book to readers who would like to see her tackling strong issues such as racism, sexism, female emancipation and the issues of the 1960's in general, because she does them justice. However, this is really a book that owes its readers more as I felt it was a bigger book waiting to spill out.

A fantastic fantasy, 17 Nov 2002
From the first chapter I was hooked. I sped through this book faster than I have ever read anything else. Captured into this fantasticly unbelievable world of a young girl and her weird home life in a new country. Written in her wonderfully witty way Sandi takes you on a mystery tour that captures your imagination. You will find yourself being taken through a variety of emotions.
I have now bought Flying Under Bridges and can't wait to discover the further tallents of this fantasticly clever and funny lady. Quite simply brilliant reading!

Hugely disappointing, 21 Apr 2002
Having experienced Sandi's humour on screen, I was much looking forward to reading more of the same. Was it me? I gamely struggled through to the end of the book, but didn't find it at all enjoyable.

A brilliant read., 10 Oct 2001
I really really enjoyed reading this book. It was funny, emotional, involving, interesting and above all very original. I loved Sandi's writing style; it made the book really easy to read. The characterisation was truly superb and the story was excellent.

not "rip-roaringly funny", 04 Jul 2008
This is a good read, but certainly not in the same league as the others I've read. It's far more ordinary. I really disagree with the comments on the back cover; I failed to see that much humour in it, though there were some teriffic one-liners. Some likeable characters, though rather too many perhaps - I got rather muddled! Essentially a good plot and a satifactory conclusion.

A PERFECT SUMMER READ, 29 Dec 2007
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I loved this book and could easily imagine spending my time most enjoyably in the summer school in Umbria and loved the idea of the little theatre and the machinations needed to save it. Perhaps not quite up to the incredibly high standard Sandi has previously set, this book is still full of delightful characters, intrigue and comic dialogue which is first rate. It is well worth the price of admission.

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

Not As Good As Expected!, 17 Aug 2007
A comedy of errors set in Umbria, so of added interest for me. I learnt some new Italian proverbs from the chapter headings but have yet to discover the relevance of the book's title.
There are dark undertones within this story as Frances/Francesca Angel/Angelli at forty returns to Montecastello, the town she knew as home for the first five years of her life. Here she confronts the demons of her past while attending the local art school, along with an amusing and motley cast of characters.
Overall although an ok read it was not as good as I had expected from Sandi Toksvig and in some ways did not feel complete.


Disappointing :(, 23 May 2007
This book was a huge disappointment for me. I've previously read Flying Under Bridges and Whistling for the Elephants and thought they were both excellent, and I had high expectations for this book. What a let down. It is like nothing in it has been developed properly, it's full of half-characters and half-ideas. It's on the same par as the kind of books you get free with magazines like Cosmopolitan - inoffensive and uninspiring. Readable, but that's about it.

melted from my memory, 15 Aug 2006
I have a great deal of respect for Toksvig. Having listened to her radio show on and off over the past few years and even having caught her with Bonnie Langford at the Bloomsbury, I can qualify what a superb all-rounder she is.

This book has let her down.

Unlike the underrated `Whistling for Elephants' or superb `Flying Under Bridges', Toksvig has really sold to the lowest common denominator here.

I shan't bore you with the plot, which can be read elsewhere on this page. But here's my tuppence worth:

None of the characters are engaging. Frances Angel is a complete bore. I'm not convinced Sandi cared for her in the slightest. Angel seems contrived and an amalgamation of too many shallow people `in the business', which Toksvig (having had much experience in this area of show-business herself) simply pasted into her book. The clunky heterosexual love triangle she created between Francis (and...I forget their names, as memorable as they aren't) made me wince and struck me as being entirely suggested by an editor.

That's the main problem here, I think: over-editing. Sandi patently had a nice idea, but I don't think much of that remained after the manuscript worked its way through the publishers.

The prose trundles along quite merrily in usual Toksvig-form, but it is mediocre, and in some cases, predictable. There are no laugh-out-loud passages as in earlier books. In fact, I considered not finishing this book if I hadn't avidly invested in a signed copy and had others asking me how I was finding it.

There are too many uninteresting, unrealistic characters with lame motives for being in this small Italian town. Towards the end I found myself wondering who these new characters were, only to discover they'd been in there all along.

And as for the title - no!

If you're new to Toksvig - read other books by her first.

It's been a busy year for Sandi, so perhaps this has had an effect. I shan't give up on her. `Hitler's Canary', her recent book for children, is excellent.

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

AN ELEPHANTINE TALE WHICH HAD ME IN STICHES!, 29 Dec 2007
it seems to be the thing nowadays for comics to write a book - most are very disappointing - this is a brilliant and excentric exception which is a comic delight! Sandi evokes the childhood belwilderment of a misfit childhood, misfit parents, misfit zoo owners and the misfit inhabitants of small town America, with comic precision and an air of mystery and moments of genuine pathos. Sandi shouldn`t stick to her day job!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute.

A little bit rushed, 04 Sep 2003
Havng recently read Flying Under Bridges, I thought I would enjoy Sandi Toksvig's "Whistling for the Elephants"...I'm sorry to say that even though it appears pregnant with potential, it's never delivered. Set around a young English tomboy trying to find her place in a small American suburb in the 1960's, I thought the characterisations were well developed and clearly easy to identify with, as with a lot of Sandi's female characters. I thought the arrival of the elephants wasn't to the scale that the book had set the reader up for and the final "act" where Pearl's son drowns was not made more of as part of the plot. This could safely have been a longer book where Sandi Toksvig could have developed some of the wit and the detail. I thought the scenes of flashbacks were largely unneccesary as they gave away the mystery of some of the characters and they were largely uninteresting and didn't seem particularly authentic. Writing for a particular period is difficult at the best of times even when well-researched but to intermingle two time frames can be jarring. More risk could have been taken with the ending. I will continue to read books by Sandi Toksvig and would still recommend this book to readers who would like to see her tackling strong issues such as racism, sexism, female emancipation and the issues of the 1960's in general, because she does them justice. However, this is really a book that owes its readers more as I felt it was a bigger book waiting to spill out.

A fantastic fantasy, 17 Nov 2002
From the first chapter I was hooked. I sped through this book faster than I have ever read anything else. Captured into this fantasticly unbelievable world of a young girl and her weird home life in a new country. Written in her wonderfully witty way Sandi takes you on a mystery tour that captures your imagination. You will find yourself being taken through a variety of emotions.
I have now bought Flying Under Bridges and can't wait to discover the further tallents of this fantasticly clever and funny lady. Quite simply brilliant reading!

Hugely disappointing, 21 Apr 2002
Having experienced Sandi's humour on screen, I was much looking forward to reading more of the same. Was it me? I gamely struggled through to the end of the book, but didn't find it at all enjoyable.

A brilliant read., 10 Oct 2001
I really really enjoyed reading this book. It was funny, emotional, involving, interesting and above all very original. I loved Sandi's writing style; it made the book really easy to read. The characterisation was truly superb and the story was excellent.

not "rip-roaringly funny", 04 Jul 2008
This is a good read, but certainly not in the same league as the others I've read. It's far more ordinary. I really disagree with the comments on the back cover; I failed to see that much humour in it, though there were some teriffic one-liners. Some likeable characters, though rather too many perhaps - I got rather muddled! Essentially a good plot and a satifactory conclusion.

A PERFECT SUMMER READ, 29 Dec 2007
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I loved this book and could easily imagine spending my time most enjoyably in the summer school in Umbria and loved the idea of the little theatre and the machinations needed to save it. Perhaps not quite up to the incredibly high standard Sandi has previously set, this book is still full of delightful characters, intrigue and comic dialogue which is first rate. It is well worth the price of admission.

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

Not As Good As Expected!, 17 Aug 2007
A comedy of errors set in Umbria, so of added interest for me. I learnt some new Italian proverbs from the chapter headings but have yet to discover the relevance of the book's title.
There are dark undertones within this story as Frances/Francesca Angel/Angelli at forty returns to Montecastello, the town she knew as home for the first five years of her life. Here she confronts the demons of her past while attending the local art school, along with an amusing and motley cast of characters.
Overall although an ok read it was not as good as I had expected from Sandi Toksvig and in some ways did not feel complete.


Disappointing :(, 23 May 2007
This book was a huge disappointment for me. I've previously read Flying Under Bridges and Whistling for the Elephants and thought they were both excellent, and I had high expectations for this book. What a let down. It is like nothing in it has been developed properly, it's full of half-characters and half-ideas. It's on the same par as the kind of books you get free with magazines like Cosmopolitan - inoffensive and uninspiring. Readable, but that's about it.

melted from my memory, 15 Aug 2006
I have a great deal of respect for Toksvig. Having listened to her radio show on and off over the past few years and even having caught her with Bonnie Langford at the Bloomsbury, I can qualify what a superb all-rounder she is.

This book has let her down.

Unlike the underrated `Whistling for Elephants' or superb `Flying Under Bridges', Toksvig has really sold to the lowest common denominator here.

I shan't bore you with the plot, which can be read elsewhere on this page. But here's my tuppence worth:

None of the characters are engaging. Frances Angel is a complete bore. I'm not convinced Sandi cared for her in the slightest. Angel seems contrived and an amalgamation of too many shallow people `in the business', which Toksvig (having had much experience in this area of show-business herself) simply pasted into her book. The clunky heterosexual love triangle she created between Francis (and...I forget their names, as memorable as they aren't) made me wince and struck me as being entirely suggested by an editor.

That's the main problem here, I think: over-editing. Sandi patently had a nice idea, but I don't think much of that remained after the manuscript worked its way through the publishers.

The prose trundles along quite merrily in usual Toksvig-form, but it is mediocre, and in some cases, predictable. There are no laugh-out-loud passages as in earlier books. In fact, I considered not finishing this book if I hadn't avidly invested in a signed copy and had others asking me how I was finding it.

There are too many uninteresting, unrealistic characters with lame motives for being in this small Italian town. Towards the end I found myself wondering who these new characters were, only to discover they'd been in there all along.

And as for the title - no!

If you're new to Toksvig - read other books by her first.

It's been a busy year for Sandi, so perhaps this has had an effect. I shan't give up on her. `Hitler's Canary', her recent book for children, is excellent.


not "rip-roaringly funny", 04 Jul 2008
This is a good read, but certainly not in the same league as the others I've read. It's far more ordinary. I really disagree with the comments on the back cover; I failed to see that much humour in it, though there were some teriffic one-liners. Some likeable characters, though rather too many perhaps - I got rather muddled! Essentially a good plot and a satifactory conclusion.

A PERFECT SUMMER READ, 29 Dec 2007
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I loved this book and could easily imagine spending my time most enjoyably in the summer school in Umbria and loved the idea of the little theatre and the machinations needed to save it. Perhaps not quite up to the incredibly high standard Sandi has previously set, this book is still full of delightful characters, intrigue and comic dialogue which is first rate. It is well worth the price of admission.

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

Not As Good As Expected!, 17 Aug 2007
A comedy of errors set in Umbria, so of added interest for me. I learnt some new Italian proverbs from the chapter headings but have yet to discover the relevance of the book's title.
There are dark undertones within this story as Frances/Francesca Angel/Angelli at forty returns to Montecastello, the town she knew as home for the first five years of her life. Here she confronts the demons of her past while attending the local art school, along with an amusing and motley cast of characters.
Overall although an ok read it was not as good as I had expected from Sandi Toksvig and in some ways did not feel complete.


Disappointing :(, 23 May 2007
This book was a huge disappointment for me. I've previously read Flying Under Bridges and Whistling for the Elephants and thought they were both excellent, and I had high expectations for this book. What a let down. It is like nothing in it has been developed properly, it's full of half-characters and half-ideas. It's on the same par as the kind of books you get free with magazines like Cosmopolitan - inoffensive and uninspiring. Readable, but that's about it.

melted from my memory, 15 Aug 2006
I have a great deal of respect for Toksvig. Having listened to her radio show on and off over the past few years and even having caught her with Bonnie Langford at the Bloomsbury, I can qualify what a superb all-rounder she is.

This book has let her down.

Unlike the underrated `Whistling for Elephants' or superb `Flying Under Bridges', Toksvig has really sold to the lowest common denominator here.

I shan't bore you with the plot, which can be read elsewhere on this page. But here's my tuppence worth:

None of the characters are engaging. Frances Angel is a complete bore. I'm not convinced Sandi cared for her in the slightest. Angel seems contrived and an amalgamation of too many shallow people `in the business', which Toksvig (having had much experience in this area of show-business herself) simply pasted into her book. The clunky heterosexual love triangle she created between Francis (and...I forget their names, as memorable as they aren't) made me wince and struck me as being entirely suggested by an editor.

That's the main problem here, I think: over-editing. Sandi patently had a nice idea, but I don't think much of that remained after the manuscript worked its way through the publishers.

The prose trundles along quite merrily in usual Toksvig-form, but it is mediocre, and in some cases, predictable. There are no laugh-out-loud passages as in earlier books. In fact, I considered not finishing this book if I hadn't avidly invested in a signed copy and had others asking me how I was finding it.

There are too many uninteresting, unrealistic characters with lame motives for being in this small Italian town. Towards the end I found myself wondering who these new characters were, only to discover they'd been in there all along.

And as for the title - no!

If you're new to Toksvig - read other books by her first.

It's been a busy year for Sandi, so perhaps this has had an effect. I shan't give up on her. `Hitler's Canary', her recent book for children, is excellent.

In this four-cassette audio book Jacqueline Wilson's The Dare Game is read in unabridged form by Sandi Toksvig.

Just when you think Wilson cannot get any better, back she comes with another book to knock your socks off. This one marks the return of one of her greatest heroines, Tracy Beaker.

The Story of Tracy Beaker introduced us to a mischievous 10-year-old girl coping with life in a children's home, lurching from one foster home to another and waiting for her ever-so-glamorous mum to come and take her away from it all. The Dare Game picks up where The Story of Tracy Beaker left off, with Tracy firmly ensconced in the home of foster mother Cam, a creative sort who was instantly drawn to the troubled child and fought for the right to take care of her.

Tracy thought things would be perfect with Cam but the reality is tough. After all, it's hardly fair that Cam refuses to buy her foster-daughter designer clothes and give her loads of money, now is it? So the petulant Tracy bunks off school and hides out in her secret place to avoid being teased by the other pupils and to stop herself from strangling Vomity Bagley, the English teacher. But one day her haven is disturbed by two very different boys, each dealing with their own problematic family lives. The three form a friendship based on playing The Dare Game, a game that gets more dangerous as Tracy's life becomes even more unsettled.

Trying to find new words to describe Wilson's writing is almost impossible--almost every review of any of her books is sure to feature "touching, funny and beautifully observed". The Dare Game is no exception. Tracy Beaker is a classic Wilson heroine--troubled, feisty and fired by humour, hope and true grit--and this superb novel is knock-'em-dead proof that Jacqueline Wilson is simply the best. The cassettes run for four hours and 50 minutes. --Susan Harrison

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

AN ELEPHANTINE TALE WHICH HAD ME IN STICHES!, 29 Dec 2007
it seems to be the thing nowadays for comics to write a book - most are very disappointing - this is a brilliant and excentric exception which is a comic delight! Sandi evokes the childhood belwilderment of a misfit childhood, misfit parents, misfit zoo owners and the misfit inhabitants of small town America, with comic precision and an air of mystery and moments of genuine pathos. Sandi shouldn`t stick to her day job!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute.

A little bit rushed, 04 Sep 2003
Havng recently read Flying Under Bridges, I thought I would enjoy Sandi Toksvig's "Whistling for the Elephants"...I'm sorry to say that even though it appears pregnant with potential, it's never delivered. Set around a young English tomboy trying to find her place in a small American suburb in the 1960's, I thought the characterisations were well developed and clearly easy to identify with, as with a lot of Sandi's female characters. I thought the arrival of the elephants wasn't to the scale that the book had set the reader up for and the final "act" where Pearl's son drowns was not made more of as part of the plot. This could safely have been a longer book where Sandi Toksvig could have developed some of the wit and the detail. I thought the scenes of flashbacks were largely unneccesary as they gave away the mystery of some of the characters and they were largely uninteresting and didn't seem particularly authentic. Writing for a particular period is difficult at the best of times even when well-researched but to intermingle two time frames can be jarring. More risk could have been taken with the ending. I will continue to read books by Sandi Toksvig and would still recommend this book to readers who would like to see her tackling strong issues such as racism, sexism, female emancipation and the issues of the 1960's in general, because she does them justice. However, this is really a book that owes its readers more as I felt it was a bigger book waiting to spill out.

A fantastic fantasy, 17 Nov 2002
From the first chapter I was hooked. I sped through this book faster than I have ever read anything else. Captured into this fantasticly unbelievable world of a young girl and her weird home life in a new country. Written in her wonderfully witty way Sandi takes you on a mystery tour that captures your imagination. You will find yourself being taken through a variety of emotions.
I have now bought Flying Under Bridges and can't wait to discover the further tallents of this fantasticly clever and funny lady. Quite simply brilliant reading!

Hugely disappointing, 21 Apr 2002
Having experienced Sandi's humour on screen, I was much looking forward to reading more of the same. Was it me? I gamely struggled through to the end of the book, but didn't find it at all enjoyable.

A brilliant read., 10 Oct 2001
I really really enjoyed reading this book. It was funny, emotional, involving, interesting and above all very original. I loved Sandi's writing style; it made the book really easy to read. The characterisation was truly superb and the story was excellent.

not "rip-roaringly funny", 04 Jul 2008
This is a good read, but certainly not in the same league as the others I've read. It's far more ordinary. I really disagree with the comments on the back cover; I failed to see that much humour in it, though there were some teriffic one-liners. Some likeable characters, though rather too many perhaps - I got rather muddled! Essentially a good plot and a satifactory conclusion.

A PERFECT SUMMER READ, 29 Dec 2007
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I loved this book and could easily imagine spending my time most enjoyably in the summer school in Umbria and loved the idea of the little theatre and the machinations needed to save it. Perhaps not quite up to the incredibly high standard Sandi has previously set, this book is still full of delightful characters, intrigue and comic dialogue which is first rate. It is well worth the price of admission.

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

Not As Good As Expected!, 17 Aug 2007
A comedy of errors set in Umbria, so of added interest for me. I learnt some new Italian proverbs from the chapter headings but have yet to discover the relevance of the book's title.
There are dark undertones within this story as Frances/Francesca Angel/Angelli at forty returns to Montecastello, the town she knew as home for the first five years of her life. Here she confronts the demons of her past while attending the local art school, along with an amusing and motley cast of characters.
Overall although an ok read it was not as good as I had expected from Sandi Toksvig and in some ways did not feel complete.


Disappointing :(, 23 May 2007
This book was a huge disappointment for me. I've previously read Flying Under Bridges and Whistling for the Elephants and thought they were both excellent, and I had high expectations for this book. What a let down. It is like nothing in it has been developed properly, it's full of half-characters and half-ideas. It's on the same par as the kind of books you get free with magazines like Cosmopolitan - inoffensive and uninspiring. Readable, but that's about it.

melted from my memory, 15 Aug 2006
I have a great deal of respect for Toksvig. Having listened to her radio show on and off over the past few years and even having caught her with Bonnie Langford at the Bloomsbury, I can qualify what a superb all-rounder she is.

This book has let her down.

Unlike the underrated `Whistling for Elephants' or superb `Flying Under Bridges', Toksvig has really sold to the lowest common denominator here.

I shan't bore you with the plot, which can be read elsewhere on this page. But here's my tuppence worth:

None of the characters are engaging. Frances Angel is a complete bore. I'm not convinced Sandi cared for her in the slightest. Angel seems contrived and an amalgamation of too many shallow people `in the business', which Toksvig (having had much experience in this area of show-business herself) simply pasted into her book. The clunky heterosexual love triangle she created between Francis (and...I forget their names, as memorable as they aren't) made me wince and struck me as being entirely suggested by an editor.

That's the main problem here, I think: over-editing. Sandi patently had a nice idea, but I don't think much of that remained after the manuscript worked its way through the publishers.

The prose trundles along quite merrily in usual Toksvig-form, but it is mediocre, and in some cases, predictable. There are no laugh-out-loud passages as in earlier books. In fact, I considered not finishing this book if I hadn't avidly invested in a signed copy and had others asking me how I was finding it.

There are too many uninteresting, unrealistic characters with lame motives for being in this small Italian town. Towards the end I found myself wondering who these new characters were, only to discover they'd been in there all along.

And as for the title - no!

If you're new to Toksvig - read other books by her first.

It's been a busy year for Sandi, so perhaps this has had an effect. I shan't give up on her. `Hitler's Canary', her recent book for children, is excellent.


not "rip-roaringly funny", 04 Jul 2008
This is a good read, but certainly not in the same league as the others I've read. It's far more ordinary. I really disagree with the comments on the back cover; I failed to see that much humour in it, though there were some teriffic one-liners. Some likeable characters, though rather too many perhaps - I got rather muddled! Essentially a good plot and a satifactory conclusion.

A PERFECT SUMMER READ, 29 Dec 2007
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I loved this book and could easily imagine spending my time most enjoyably in the summer school in Umbria and loved the idea of the little theatre and the machinations needed to save it. Perhaps not quite up to the incredibly high standard Sandi has previously set, this book is still full of delightful characters, intrigue and comic dialogue which is first rate. It is well worth the price of admission.

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

Not As Good As Expected!, 17 Aug 2007
A comedy of errors set in Umbria, so of added interest for me. I learnt some new Italian proverbs from the chapter headings but have yet to discover the relevance of the book's title.
There are dark undertones within this story as Frances/Francesca Angel/Angelli at forty returns to Montecastello, the town she knew as home for the first five years of her life. Here she confronts the demons of her past while attending the local art school, along with an amusing and motley cast of characters.
Overall although an ok read it was not as good as I had expected from Sandi Toksvig and in some ways did not feel complete.


Disappointing :(, 23 May 2007
This book was a huge disappointment for me. I've previously read Flying Under Bridges and Whistling for the Elephants and thought they were both excellent, and I had high expectations for this book. What a let down. It is like nothing in it has been developed properly, it's full of half-characters and half-ideas. It's on the same par as the kind of books you get free with magazines like Cosmopolitan - inoffensive and uninspiring. Readable, but that's about it.

melted from my memory, 15 Aug 2006
I have a great deal of respect for Toksvig. Having listened to her radio show on and off over the past few years and even having caught her with Bonnie Langford at the Bloomsbury, I can qualify what a superb all-rounder she is.

This book has let her down.

Unlike the underrated `Whistling for Elephants' or superb `Flying Under Bridges', Toksvig has really sold to the lowest common denominator here.

I shan't bore you with the plot, which can be read elsewhere on this page. But here's my tuppence worth:

None of the characters are engaging. Frances Angel is a complete bore. I'm not convinced Sandi cared for her in the slightest. Angel seems contrived and an amalgamation of too many shallow people `in the business', which Toksvig (having had much experience in this area of show-business herself) simply pasted into her book. The clunky heterosexual love triangle she created between Francis (and...I forget their names, as memorable as they aren't) made me wince and struck me as being entirely suggested by an editor.

That's the main problem here, I think: over-editing. Sandi patently had a nice idea, but I don't think much of that remained after the manuscript worked its way through the publishers.

The prose trundles along quite merrily in usual Toksvig-form, but it is mediocre, and in some cases, predictable. There are no laugh-out-loud passages as in earlier books. In fact, I considered not finishing this book if I hadn't avidly invested in a signed copy and had others asking me how I was finding it.

There are too many uninteresting, unrealistic characters with lame motives for being in this small Italian town. Towards the end I found myself wondering who these new characters were, only to discover they'd been in there all along.

And as for the title - no!

If you're new to Toksvig - read other books by her first.

It's been a busy year for Sandi, so perhaps this has had an effect. I shan't give up on her. `Hitler's Canary', her recent book for children, is excellent.


Tracy is wicked and outrageous and very funny!, 02 Dec 2001
Tracy,a scruffy tomboy kid would like a real home
one day. She goes to live with Cam,her foster mum
and is always complaining about Cam's lifestyle.
One day she starts to bunk off school,she finds and investigates an abandoned house and makes two
friends.Tracy is a really gutsy and wicked inventor of extremely outrageous dares.
I won't tell you anything more or it will spoil your suprise.All I can tell you is:it is a really
good book,and I dare you to read it!

Excellent!!!!, 03 Jun 2001
A thrilling story about Tracy Beaker when she is living with her foster mum Cam. Tracy gets bulllied she tells everyone her mum is a superstar and model and has been in lots of movies thats why she had to put her into care and because her foster mum cam cant afford to buy her designer clothes so she just looks like a scruff. Tracy Bunks off school and finds a derelict house where she meets 2 boys one called Football a chubby , cheeky , naughty boy that has been expelled and a wimp called alexander , then they start to play the DARE GAME which she made up when she was in the orphanage. Then out of the blue her beatiful model/actress mum comes back and wants her to live with her! but how does tracy cope she isnt all girly like her mum wants her to be she is a proper tomboy!

Great book gotta get it!!!!!!!!, 18 Apr 2001
Tracy Beaker(an orphan) living with her stepmum wants to live with her real mum. She starts skipping school and hanging out in a house. She finally is atlast aloud to live with her mum, but she doesn't like her mum's new boyfriend. I think it is the best book. I recommend it to girls.

Sandi Tovstig shows the devastating effect of Nazism in Denmark, 22 Apr 2006
This story is a touching novel of a young Danish boy's journey from April 1940, before the Nazis invaded Denmark, to October 1943, when the Germans were losing control. The novel portrays bravery, trust, national unity and, perhaps most importantly, multi-ethnic relationships.

Bamse's family lived in Copenhagen. Bamse's best friend was Anton, a Jewish boy who he went to school with. In 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark. Many of the Jews, including Anton's family, were worried as they had heard rumours of the atrocities that were happening in the concentration camps of Germany and Czechoslovakia. But, none of these murders seemed to have happened to any Danish Jews and so the on the surface all seemed well.

There was then a split in Danish politics. Members of the public started becoming actively involved in either left-wing or right-wing parties. Many young Danes joined the Danish Nazi Party, the Hitler Jugend, which took on similar tactics as the other European Nazis. Their supporters worked against the Jews. The others joined the Danish Resistance which helped the Jews and openly sabotaged the Germans wherever possible. Bamse's father tried not to become involved in any of these groups, but at the end, he realised that the torture of the Jews was wrong. Bamse's father appeared to believe that he had nothing worthy to contribute to the defence from the Nazis. He was wrong.

Bamse and his brother started to become involved in the Danish Resistance at a time when the Germans announced that they would deport all of the Danish Jews to labour camps. Bamse's family became one of the most important families in the rescue of the Jews from the concentration camps. They helped ship ninety-eight percent of the Jews from Denmark into Sweden, a neutral country therefore not occupied by Germany. Bamse and his family risked death each time they helped any Jews.

This story identifies the devastating effects of the Second World War on all communities. Many books have been written about Jews escaping from Poland and other places in mainland Europe, but never a book about Denmark. This book was written with passion, as the authoress is Danish, and also with some humour.

Anyone who is interested in the difficult conflicts that arose in World War Two will find this account of a child living in occupied Denmark unforgettable.

A Thrilling Book ...., 02 Feb 2006
A thrilling book about a Danish family living on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The main character, Bamse, is a school boy around 12-13 years old was at the theatre were his mum worked as an actress and his father painting sets when news came that the Germans had come. They stayed for some time using fuel and food, so much that a taxi driver invents an engine that runs on cow poo!

Later on Orlando, Bamse's big brother, starts to work against the Germans. Bamse and his best friend, Anton who is a Jew disciver what Orlando is up ot and they join him doing various little jobs, even stealing a gun! Shortly afterwards Orlando is arrested. The Germans start arresting Jews. Bamse and his family help by hiding loads of Jews and transporting them to Sweden.

Commended to everyone, by this review's author Sam, aged 10.

(My son read this book in a weekend and simply couldn't put it down - it was that good. I'm reading it now!)

Human nature in real form, 19 Aug 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and pace of this book. It was about believable people, with emotions and realistic human reactions to the events unfolding around them. No superheroes or unrealistic plot twists. A really good read about human nature at its best and sometimes worst. I would recommend it to mature children to read and gain a fuller picture of what life could be like during the 2nd World War.

BEWARE OF LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - YOU`LL BE HOOKED!, 29 Dec 2007
Sandi triumphs again - she sets herself a difficult task asking us to engage and symphathise with Eve who is in prison for murder - she succeeds brilliantly. Kate appears to have everything, but has been living a lie for years - her dissection of religious bigotry is a highlight of the book. The story gradually gathers pace until by the end it is moving with the speed of an expess train - a comic masterpiece!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute

An ideal book whether for a sunny day or rainy day!, 25 Aug 2007
This was a book i've been searching for and I was so disappointed to have finished it! It was brilliant from the first page to the last and I laughed out loud so many times. Sandi knows the workings of a woman's brain which is reassuring and comforting to us mortal women!!

Hilariously funny and brilliantly moving, 03 Aug 2007
I took Sandi Toksvig's book on holiday and couldn't put it down for two days. It starts slow, but after a while it becomes utterly unputdownable. Great read, very moving in places and hilariously funny at the same time. A tale of one woman's liberation and deep humanity.

Good in parts, 15 Mar 2007
Yes, there were chuckles and yes, some of it was sad and some of the observation was spot on. But, what puzzled me was that here was a woman (Eve)only 46 but living a lifestyle reminiscent of the 50s type housewife whereas this woman would have been born in 1960 and she would have acted, spoken and thought and even dressed quite differently, especially vis-a-vis her homelife and husband. OK, this isn't supposed to be a totally realistic novel (I presume)but this aspect did spoil it for me.

Very pleasantly surprised, 24 Sep 2004
Having passed over this book on a couple of previous occasions, largely because I expected it to be about lesbians, I finally decided to read it and am extremely glad that I did.

I was also initially disappointed to find that it was partly written in letter form, but after reading the first letter and the first non-letter chapter, I forgot all about that.

The book is funny and sad at the same time. Eve is clearly not stupid, but I did feel that some of the things she said and thought were too clever for her, and more the author's own level. This didn't spoil it for me, though and I'll certain read more of the author's work in the future.

AN ELEPHANTINE TALE WHICH HAD ME IN STICHES!, 29 Dec 2007
it seems to be the thing nowadays for comics to write a book - most are very disappointing - this is a brilliant and excentric exception which is a comic delight! Sandi evokes the childhood belwilderment of a misfit childhood, misfit parents, misfit zoo owners and the misfit inhabitants of small town America, with comic precision and an air of mystery and moments of genuine pathos. Sandi shouldn`t stick to her day job!

Mick Drake author of the comic novel All`s Well at Wellwithoute.

A little bit rushed, 04 Sep 2003
Havng recently read Flying Under Bridges, I thought I would enjoy Sandi Toksvig's "Whistling for the Elephants"...I'm sorry to say that even though it appears pregnant with potential, it's never delivered. Set around a young English tomboy trying to find her place in a small American suburb in the 1960's, I thought the characterisations were well developed and clearly easy to identify with, as with a lot of Sandi's female characters. I thought the arrival of the elephants wasn't to the scale that the book had set the reader up for and the final "act" where Pearl's son drowns was not made more of as part of the plot. This could safely have been a longer book where Sandi Toksvig could have developed some of the wit and the detail. I thought the scenes of flashbacks were largely unneccesary as they gave away the mystery of some of the characters and they were largely uninteresting and didn't seem particularly authentic. Writing for a particular period is difficult at the best of times even when well-researched but to intermingle two time frames can be jarring. More risk could have been taken with the ending. I will continue to read books by Sandi Toksvig and would still recommend this book to readers who would like to see her tackling strong issues such as racism, sexism, female emancipation and the issues of the 1960's in general, because she does them justice. However, this is really a book that owes its readers more as I felt it was a bigger book waiting to spill out.

A fantastic fantasy, 17 Nov 2002
From the first chapter I was hooked. I sped through this book faster than I have ever read anything else. Captured into this fantasticly unbelievable world of a young girl and her weird home life in