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Like many another tale set in the pre-war rural world of the English countryside, The Crowstarver by best-selling children's author Dick King-Smith, tells about a close-knit farming community and the ways of animals and birds. But this is a story of country life with a difference. Joy comes to a childless shepherd and his wife when a baby found lying in the straw of a sheep pen becomes their very own child. As he grows up it becomes clear that Spider is not "normal". Although he can't think or speak like other children, he can understand and communicate with animals. In this deceptively simple story the ordinary and the natural are transfused with the extraordinary and the wonderful. The tale has elements of a fairy story and yet remains rooted in a realistically described, historically accurate, everyday world. The combination of elements creates a powerful, poignant, thought-provoking read for all 9 to 11-year-olds. --Tamsin Palmer
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