Rachel Reviews: Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell

Those of you who will have read my reviews before will know that I love Katherine Rundell's books. She is a great writer of both fiction and non-fiction and, like Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials), does not necessarily see herself as a children's writer, although the bulk of her books have children as their main protagonists and so, are marketed as books for younger readers.

This book was another smasher, telling the story of Will, a girl living on a farm in Zimbabwe with her father who manages it. She has friends in the form of the Captain, the owner, and Simon, one of the boys who works there. Will literally runs wild and there is an argument to say that she is a product of her environment; however, Rundell shows an appreciation in Will of nature that goes beyond just having got used to it because she lives on a farm on the edge of wilderness. Will is at one with everything around her, garnering an understanding of Africa which speaks of harmony but also of knowing your place in the bigger picture and nurturing a healthy respect for your fellow creatures as a result.

So, when she is taken from here, as a reader, you feel her loss as keenly as if it were your own. Will is not only removed from the farm but also her beloved Africa, to England and a boarding school. My heart shook for her, knowing that the environment that Will would find herself in would see her as feral, uncultured and something to snigger and deride. And I wasn't wrong.

But ultimately, Katherine Rundell does not deal with children who sink: she shows the resilience of them and their ability to overcome; she shows them strong and surviving. But they're not super kids because she shows them vulnerable and uncertain and wounded too. But she likes, and I love this about her writing, to show them rising too.

And what Rundell does too is show, and I'm oversimplifying here, bad adults and good adults. You have both sets in this book, and I think that Rundell is keen to convey the redeeming features of most humans; but likewise, does not shirk from showing their weaknesses and how they can be ruled by them.

This was a wonderful book. I loved it. I was almost sad that I wasn't reading it as a girl because I know that my younger self would have been inspired by Will and would have found in her spirit a strength that would have made me look inside myself and think," Can I be like this? Can I be this girl?"

For me, this is a must read.

Rachel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - let the fanfare commence!