Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot

I've been meaning to read this book (now a series) for quite some time. I finally met Violet Mackerel this week- I can only wish that I'd done it sooner. Violet Mackerel is a dreamer, a daydreamer, and the book is completely charming. Violet lives with her mother and older brother and sister. Her mother has run a stall at the Sunday markets selling knitted objects since her husband left. Violet goes along with her family to the markets each week, and busies herself with finding small things, becoming an archaeologist and her imaginings.

Violet needs a brilliant plot to be able to buy a blue china bird she has seen at the market. Of course, she doesn't have any money, but she has a very creative mind. Her mother tells her to "think outside of the box" and that "if you can see it you can be it". Author Anna Branford has a lovely website, where she thinks outside the box, knits and makes small things, and has many activity sheets for kids to do. Violet Mackerel is the perfect book for her to write, you can see how she invests her energy and soul into the story.

Violet's mother even dreams of Paris too! When the kids are grown up she sees herself living in Paris, speaking French and knitting for fashionable Parisian boutiques.

Gorgeously illustrated by Sarah Davis, Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot is a delight to read. Quite rightly it was an honour for the CBCA awards in 2011.

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