It is the story of Wick, an orphan who has grown up in the harsh surroundings of Harklights, an 'orphanage' where the children spend all day making and packing matches for the owner, Miss Boggatt (or Old Ma Bogey, as she is known).

With this there is a sudden spark of intrigue and magic that then continues to build with Wick’s discovery of a tiny acorn, which is in fact a beautifully made cradle with a tiny live baby inside! Accompanied by a map and beautiful illustrations, we meet Wick who is an orphan boy living and working at Harklights Match Factory and Orphanage.

She has an office full of strange things, mechanical beetles, a miniature man in a bell jar and butterflies stuck to a board next to a pair of octagonal green glasses. I’m not sure how many books I have read in my life but my favourites are all the Harry Potters and The cursed child – I loved it ! Oliver twist meets the smurfs in this mesmerising ecological fairy-tale of friendship, family, and helping the environment. While our focus is on the narrator’s hopes and fears, behind them all is a tale of despoilation, exploitation and cruelty fully relevant in our contemporary world which will resonate even with the most innocent young reader. And when his new world comes under threat, he must fight to save it - and save those he loves from his time in Harklights - from certain destruction.

Harklights tells a warm story of evergreen proportions as Wick explores the world of Hobs in his pursuit of being a forest protector. This heart-warming and enchanting story was a pleasure to lose myself in, with charming illustrations that depict a world of imagination and wonder.

Wick must prove himself to the Hobs and help them solve a serious problem that is threatening to destroy their homes and maybe even their entire species. The pace is not uncommon in children's literature - The Silver Arrow suffers from it, so does Cogheart, The Train to Impossible Places and Sarah Driver's Sea. It would have been great had Petal or Bottletop escaped with Wick into the forest to meet the Hobbs.

This is a charming tale for children, which may just help to open their eyes to the wonders of the natural world (although you can't beat taking them out in it either).

For me, a big kid, this was just a really lovely read, we follow Wick, who is a boy in an Orphanage, who day in day out is made to box up matches and only gets fed 3 meals of porridge each day. Wick is an orphan forced to work in a match factory under the cruel eye of Old Ma Bogey, a villainous overseer with a metal thumb and blood red lipstick. Upravo glavna tema ove knjige je upoznavanje sa funkcionisanjem jednog šumskog ekosistema, ali i šta se dešava kada se on naruši uticajem nekog faktora od spolja (u ovom slučaju, upravo ljudskog faktora).

To make it worse, it is run by a menacing character, who to me is reminiscent of the formidable ‘Child Catcher’, and to whom the children refer to as Old Ma Bogey. Wick’s standoff with Old Ma Bogey in the finale was very tense and nail-biting, especially when he gets shot! Yesterday a parent came over to tell me how impressed she was by the book fair and that you did a fabulous job of selling the books to the children first.Also, we only see him in the finale, and it would have been great had Wick discussed this with him in the beginning. Mooie discussies over familie en de betekenis van een huis versus een thuis en daarom een passend tipje voor de aankomende Kinderboekenweek maar eigenlijk ook gewoon een tipje voor elke week. Doesn't necessarily mean that it was bad; it was well-written and well-paced, a heartwarming message or two at its heart, and it did not shy away from the less than savoury practices of the past. A book that will spark younger readers imaginations, and I loved the little guides at the back with information about habitats and things they can do to help etc, carrying on the story in their own ways I really thought that was great!