William Mayne

This is probably the first of many posts I'll write on William Mayne. Who is William Mayne? He's probably the best writer of books about children since 1953...when his first book was published...and has averaged about 2 books a year until his death in 2010...writing well over 100 chidren's books! He never compromised his writing style to fit some mold. He wrote because he had to write...it was his gift...his particularly genius. After having read about 20-30 of his books...and I intend to read them all...I'd say his greatest gift was to let his writing and plots unwind using all his senses so that you are experiencing them with the same unique freshness of the child and their landscape...a kind of poetry. The sad thing about his books is I think very few children will appreciate them today. He does not tell you what is happening, he lets you discover it...which can be rather difficult. Perhaps his best audience today would be poets, artists, and book critics. Here is the opening paragraph from his book "A Swarm in May" (1955):

John Owen stood in a narrow street full of narrow
shadows: they stood in the corners of every beamed and
overhanging house-front. There was light and dark up to
the saw-like stepped edge of each tiled gable, and beyond
that a blue night sky with very small shivering stars.

I've been gradually ordering his books online...and was thrilled when one arrived today! Few of his books are available in the library. Now his books are unpopular...no publisher would touch him. He was convicted of 11 counts of sexual abuse to young girls in 2006, sentenced to 2-1/2 years in jail at age 78, and put on the sex offender list for life. He was a bachelor nearly his whole life, having married briefly, and preferred the company of children over adults. I was shocked to hear of this dual life, but his writing is excellent. You have to keep things separated...there's his life and there's his writing. Try reading his "Hob and the Goblins"...excellent fantasy. I also recommend "Low Tide", "Drift", and "Antar and the Eagles"...all available at libraries. Most of all, pick up anything of his that catches your interest. You may find yourself addicted to his writing style, in spite of his personal history, and buying book after book online. They're cheap! More later on William Mayne...the best children's writer you've never heard of.


Here's another favorite William Mayne quote


http://denisianpress.blogspot.com/2011/09/sly-humor.html