Binny for Short: Book 1
Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Hilary McKay read voraciously from an early age and grew up in a household of readers. After studying Botany and Zoology at St Andrews University she went on to work as a biochemist, but always had a burning desire to write.
- Binny for Short by Hilary McKay – review.
- Binny for Short Book 1 Synopsis;
- Binny for Short : Book 1.
- Cuissons de base (Les indispensables t. 15) (French Edition);
After the birth of her two children, she decided to give it a go. Hilary now lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family. When not writing Hilary loves walking, reading, having friends to stay and receiving letters from children. Check out the latest activities in our KidsZone. The Colour of the Sun David Almond.
Binny for Short
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A Life in Illustration Leonard S. Home Binny for Short Book 1. He's saved, somewhat, by the glimpses we have of his vulnerability and simple, raw, need, but it's a close thing for his story. Binny was a delight, though, and I liked Clem, too and their mother. Odd, that, now I think on it. Logically I should hold the mom more responsible for James than I apparently do. Anyway, I liked their story very much, even Binny's irrational attachment to the long-gone Max her dog that was simply too much in their reduced circumstances was endearing when it could easily have been merely irrational.
Binny is McKay at her best--a 12 year-old with 12 year-old problems, perspectives, and solutions that pull you completely into her world even as you can observe its limitations and pitfalls. McKay is as generous as she is unsparing in her portraits of adolescence and it was thoroughly enjoyable experiencing her world for a time.
Add a couple laugh-myself-silly moments and you have a highly entertaining read, even if I had some reservations or idiosyncratic pain-points. This came in at a 3. View all 3 comments. Feb 05, Emily rated it it was amazing Shelves: Man, I love Hilary McKay. Her books make me giggle. They make my husband giggle. It's her unusual, frisky way of putting things that always gets me. The youngest child in the family, James, is described as "portable", and the other family members take advantage of the fact when he's being a pest.
Here's a sentence that I couldn't stop laughing about, when year old Binny has had just about enough of James. Binny picked up James, turned him upside down, and lowered him gently into the trash can. One word in that sentence makes all the difference. That's how a lot of her humor sneaks up on you. Even though he's not the title character, 6-year-old James gets all the best lines, going through life on his own, oddball plane, making comments about Binny getting into "one of her states" and greeting his all-female family members with "Hello, don't kiss me.
Binny is shockingly harsh and disrespectful to her Aunt Violet at the beginning, view spoiler [ and there's no tidy resolution or chance for apology, since Aunty Violet dies before Binny knows the whole story about Max hide spoiler ] and a few very tough realities are touched on in the book, but McKay manages it with grace, compassion and humor. I can't recommend this author enough. May she write many more books with quirky characters, sweet relationships, and a treatment of the English language reminiscent of P.
Mar 11, Emily rated it it was amazing Shelves: Or more, precisely, gently paddling towards me sea mail. Two years is really too short a time between readings, but yet I'd forgotten how hard-edged by McKay's standards anyway, not the general public's this story sometimes is. Binny and her frenemy, Gareth, sometimes behave badly because they're both, for different reasons, angry and sad. It's not always comfortable reading. I wasn't sure if this would remain a five star book for me, but oh, the ending packs a punch, and makes everything shift, kaleidoscope like.
It's wonderful, one of her best books. This one did not disappoint.
It's a typically Hilary McKay story eccentric characters making wry remarks and getting themselves into astonishingly funny situations , but it's more bittersweet than usual. More unusually for one of McKay's books, it has maps on the end papers, something which always seems to make even a dull book worth reading. Now I have to figure out how to cram my new copy into that row of hardcovers which is starting to take up a whole shelf. The British edition, which is far, far, more attractive than the as yet unreleased American one featuring Binny with a sideways football, Dora the Explorer-style head can be ordered with free worldwide shipping at: Apr 29, Melissa McShane rated it really liked it Shelves: I should have written this up when I read it, but I didn't.
I love Hilary McKay's books, so this was just more of the same--great characters, funny stories, a happy ending that isn't perfect. Even so, I think I like Binny in Secret better. And it irritated me even though I knew it was coming because I read Binny in Secret first. It didn't ruin the book for me, but it came close. I am giving this a 5 because I think The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy , which has been cooed over by so many, is the most overrated attempt at an "old fashioned family story" I have ever read.
This book,on the other hand, is a delightful read with a family that feels real, unlike Birdsall's phoney baloney characters. View all 7 comments. Jun 23, L. Johnson rated it it was amazing Shelves: It's hard to write about family, I think sometimes. It's a thing that a lot of people do for families, in their odd and pained and viciously real shapes, are part of all our lives and they are something which remain intensely personal. You have secret words, shared histories, internal jokes that nobody, despite however hard they try, may ever fully understand.
And you can't ever understand theirs, even if you understand the full shade of their humour, cut from their life, you may never fully see It's hard to write about family, I think sometimes. And you can't ever understand theirs, even if you understand the full shade of their humour, cut from their life, you may never fully see the shadows in that.
It's hard to write about family but I think, perhaps, that Hilary McKay is superlative in how she does it. There's nobody quite like McKay in how she catches that oddly loving and vibrant family dynamic, the way that you love-hate-love your siblings and hate them again, all in the same breath. And there's nobody quite like McKay who swings you from laughter, through to a rush of love for the entire world, through to catching your breath with tears and wanting everything to just be alright and okay and for them to make their way through this.
McKay is a joy, pure and simple, and in Binny for Short she's on fine and almost masterful form. She's stubborn and grumpy and resolutely of herself. Her childhood is rather idyllic and lovely but following the death of her father, everything changes. Her beloved dog, Max, is given away due to the machinations of Binny's hated Auntie Violet.
The idea of a home by the sea is something that's been explored in children's literature before; the wild and entrancing 'otherness' of the seaside will remain eternally glorious but I think here, coupled with Binny's frenemy Gareth I loathe that expression but it rather fits her initial encounters with him , her wide-eyed love of the gorgeous Liam and of her love of her new world in general, McKay has created something rather ridiculously lovely.
This book is rich story-telling, ridiculously so, and it is full of life and it is almost a joy to read and I want more, please, for I am greedy for work like this. First, her father died, taking his stories along with him. Her dog was taken by her mean Aunty Violet, who never told anyone where Max had been sent.
So when Binny found herself alone in a car with her Aunt, she told her exactly what she thought. Aunty Violet died soon after that conversation and left Binny and her family her old cottage by the sea, a tiny house but one of their very own. Now Binny finds herself in an idyllic seaside town, meeting great new friends and even better enemies, but still missing Max. Binny though is not a girl to easily give up, so she sets about planning to find her dog, no matter what.
I am such a fan of McKay and her writing. She has a natural flow both in her narrative and in the very real voices that all of her characters use with one another. Additionally, her characters are all flawed and realistically drawn which adds greatly to the veracity of her books. In the end, her books are filled with human beings who live in messy ways through their messy lives, beautifully. Her older sister is glamorous and musical, yet works incredibly hard to afford the necessary lessons to be a musician.
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She is also as much a parent as their lovely but scattered mother. It is James though, her little brother, who completely steals the book. He is also growing poison lettuce in his window box from stolen seeds that just happened to find their way into his pocket. Strong characters and splendid writing result in a virtuoso start to a new series that will have McKay fans cheering for more.
Binny for Short Book 1
Appropriate for ages Mar 17, Beth rated it liked it Shelves: Mostly, Binny for Short is a lovable mess, with amazing writing and terrible parenting. And then the mess sorts itself out very neatly. It's a great reading experience, but I'm left with niggling concerns. First, the lack of discipline while James was being James and Binny was being Binny is anxiety-inducing. It's meant to be funny - especially the way certain recurring circumstances are used as running jokes - but it left me feeling kind of sour, in a will-no-one-tell-these-kids-to-STOP way. I Mostly, Binny for Short is a lovable mess, with amazing writing and terrible parenting.
I feel sympathetic for Aunt Violet. I need a moment to process that. Second, sure, this is a book for kids, but it's also clearly a book for adults, with material that could be wrenching were it not hidden in the background and easily overlooked. And yet since that material was glossed over with headlong story, and then things resolved themselves perfectly in the end, the novel reached for life's messiness and also dismissed it at the same time.
It's too contained, too well-plotted, too deliberate, to actually resemble real life. Feb 19, Jannah Cloud Child rated it it was amazing. That was deliciously fun and filled with weird and wonderful people. A perfect middle grade slice of life book by one of my favourite authors. Belinda "Binny for Short" misses her dog Max. When her father dies and her family cant afford to keep Max, he's sent to her granny.
Unfortunately he's too much for granny and her sister Aunty Violet decides he needs to be rehomed. Binny hates Violet, and misses Max terribly. Clem, her older sister has her flute lessons, James her you That was deliciously fun and filled with weird and wonderful people. Clem, her older sister has her flute lessons, James her younger brother "only six - used as an excuse for his misbehaviour" is busy with his poisonous plants and homemade farm, and their worried tired mother don't miss Max much because he was rather a noisy bouncy shouty bitey dog. And they miss Dad more. Binny misses Dad too..
But Max was taken away from her without her knowledge by horrible Aunty Violet from Spain, who always smokes and thinks children are unnecessary expenses. It would be like fighting a stone, thought Binny. So when Granny dies and Binny is stuck with Aunty Violet at the funeral she gives her a piece of her mind. You should be dead, not Granny.
I wish you were. And leaves Binny her house in England by the seaside. I have been asked to state, remarked the lawyer who wrote the letter, that this change to the will of Miss Violet Cornwallis was made after her recent conversation with her niece Belinda, to whom she sends her particular regards. They decide to move in but still, Binny firmly believes that this is Aunt Violet haunting her, and keeps having nightmares. Their family soon adapt to their new lovely sunny seaside life with new jobs and friends and enemies too! Theres gorgeous Liam, who owns a tourist boat to see seals and lets Binny be a "crew" member.
There's Kate, Clem's new best friend who owns a cafe and is a very good listener. There's the old ladies home where mum works and they have chickens which is something James wants very much for his farm. There's the house now lovely once painted up, Binny's treehouse a surfboard tied to the tree with a rope, "perfectly comfortable" Binny declares and theres Gareth. Her next door neighbour who she doesnt have to be nice to and certainly isnt nice to her. Her enemy who she can play with by "I dare yous", who hates his stepmother and is never happy.
But all the the back of her mind, Binny is worried about Aunt Violet.. Will she ever get him back? The story is very funny and Hilary McKay has a talent for creating zany domestic families filled with warmth and this followed through. The one niggle I have is the prologue before every chapter or whatever you call it, that serves to describe what leads to the ending is a bit confusing and jarring at first. But it made sense the further along the story went. Overall very much recommended. I read the illustrated ebook and also a borrowed copy from the library they actually have english books I want to read yay!
Dec 26, Robin rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book contains what I love most about Hilary McKay's books -- she really captures what children feel -- the anxiety, the fears, the imagination, the joy, the noticing of the little details, the irrationality of it all -- and expresses it so directly and with such understanding. Binny short for Belinda is no exception -- she's another charming and oh so very real character. Her family, as usual with McKay, is a bit offbeat, and after her father dies really struggle to survive.
Binny's awful This book contains what I love most about Hilary McKay's books -- she really captures what children feel -- the anxiety, the fears, the imagination, the joy, the noticing of the little details, the irrationality of it all -- and expresses it so directly and with such understanding. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Dispatched from the UK in 2 business days When will my order arrive?
Binny for Short : Hilary McKay :
Home Contact Us Help Free delivery worldwide. Description Binny's life has been difficult since her father died and her dreadful old Aunt Violet disposed of her beloved dog, Max. Her world changed then, to a city flat with not enough space for her Mum, her big sister Clem and her small brother James. Definitely no room for a pet. Then one day Aunt Violet dies, leaving a small cottage in Cornwall to Binny and her family.
Binny finds herself in a new world once more, full of sunshine and freedom and Gareth, the enemy-next-door and the ideal companion for dangerous dares. But Max is still lost in the past, and it seems impossible that she'll ever find him again The Best Books of Check out the top books of the year on our page Best Books of