''Handles'' is a
realistic children's novel by
Jan Mark
Jan Mark (22 June 1943 – 16 January 2006) was a British writer best known for children's books. In all she wrote over fifty novels and plays and many anthologised short stories. She won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, ...
, first published in 1983 by Kestrel Books of
Harmondsworth, London, with illustrations by
David Parkins
David Alan Parkins (born 2 November 1955) is a British cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for D.C. Thomson, publisher of ''The Beano'' and ''The Dandy''. Now based in Canada, he illustrates children's picture books.
Parkins was born in ...
. Set in the
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
countryside, it features a city girl on holiday, who loves motorcycles.
Nicholas Tucker
Nicholas Tucker is an English academic and writer who is an honorary Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex.
He was educated at Burgess Hill School in Hampstead, London, where his English teacher was briefly Bernice Ru ...
calls it "a happy, optimistic work"; Erica escapes "mean-minded relatives" for the "anarchic motorbike-repair outfit in a nearby town".
[
Mark and ''Handles'' won the annual Carnegie Medal from the ]Library Association
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...
, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
.[ Thus she became the third writer with two such honors (of seven through 2012), having won the 1976 Medal for her debut novel '']Thunder and Lightnings
''Thunder and Lightnings'' is a realistic children's novel by Jan Mark, published in 1976 by Kestrel Books of Harmondsworth in London, with illustrations by Jim Russell. Set in Norfolk, it features a developing friendship between two boys who ...
''.[ Also set in the Norfolk countryside, it features two boys who love aeroplanes.
Atheneum Books published the first U.S. edition in 1985, retaining the Parkins illustrations.][
]
Title
"Handles" in this book are names with a special significance, a symbol of self-discovery or growing into oneself. The title also plays on the "handles" by which a motorcycle is steered, a symbol of control.
Plot introduction
Erica Timperley, a city girl who loves motorcycles, is bored with her holiday in Norfolk where her Uncle and Aunt grow acres of vegetables. Then she sees a cat with false teeth and discovers Mercury Motor Cycles, an unusual motorcycle repair shop down an alley. There she meets the enigmatic young man "Elsie" Wainwright, who allows her the honour of helping out in the workshop. Apart from beginning to learn the trade, Erica learns a whole new arcane vocabulary and meets an array of curious characters including Bunny and Bill Birdcycle. Eventually she gets a "handle" of her own, and by the end of the summer is determined to become a mechanic
A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars.
Duties
Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and r ...
.
Literary significance and reception
The realism of ''Handles'' has been particularly commended.
From ''Reading for Enjoyment: 12–15:'' "This is a richly comic tale ... Jan Mark knows how young people think and talk."
From the ''New York Times'' review: "Jan Mark stretches the range of children's books ... she provides for young people the combination of fine prose and strong realism generally reserved for adults."New York Times review, July 28 1985
In Tucker's obituary view more than twenty years later, ''Handles'' was a "happy, optimistic work" in which the heroine found in the motorbike-repair shop "the company and interests she had always longed for". This was in marked contrast to three of Mark's earlier works, young adult
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
science-fiction novels set in "a hopeless future", which some critics regarded as "too gloomy for a young audience".[
]
See also
References
External links
—immediately, first US edition
{{s-end
British children's novels
Carnegie Medal in Literature winning works
Motorcycling in fiction
Novels set in Norfolk
1983 British novels
1983 children's books