"Strange things begin to happen the minute young Kay Harker boards the train to go home for Christmas and finds himself under observation by two very shifty-looking characters. Arriving at his destination, the boy is immediately accosted by a bright-eyed old man with a mysterious message: “The wolves are running.” Soon danger is everywhere, as a gang of criminals headed by the notorious wizard Abner Brown and his witch wife Sylvia Daisy Pouncer gets to work. What does Abner Brown want? The magic box that the old man has entrusted to Kay, which allows him to travel freely not only in space but in time, too. The gang will stop at nothing to carry out their plan, even kidnapping Kay’s friend, the tough little Maria Jones, and threatening to cancel Christmas celebrations altogether. But with the help of his allies, including an intrepid mouse, a squadron of Roman soldiers, the legendary Herne the Hunter, and the inventor of the Box of Delights himself, Kay just may be able rescue his friend, foil Abner Brown’s plot, and save Christmas, too."From Wikipedia:"The Box of Delights is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield. It is a sequel to The Midnight Folk, and was first published in 1935. The central character is Kay Harker who, on returning from boarding school, finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box, which allows the owner to go small (shrink) and go swift (fly), experience magical wonders contained within the box and go into the past.The owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlins, whom Kay meets on a railway station. They have an instant rapport, and this leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a man called Abner Brown and his gang. For safety, Cole entrusts the box to Kay, who then goes on to have many adventures."Other reviews:“The book that always had the magic of a snowy English Christmas…. It’s still a lovely book, magical and funny, to be read by anybody of any age.” —The Horn Book"This classic of English children's literature, sadly overlooked by most on this side of the Atlantic, has just been reissued in a beautiful edition by the New York Review Children's Collection...Although The Box of Delights was first published in 1935, Masefield's intoxicating prose has lost none of its pull...in this wonderful tale of bravery and intrigue that deserves to become another staple of the holidays." --The San Francisco Chronicle"This uniquely imaginative tale would be a delight for fans of old-fashioned, English Literature and could be compared to the likes of A Christmas Carol and the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." --CLEAR Reviews“Masefield's novel, a plum pudding of strange adventures, English legend, and spiritual feeling, should be more widely appreciated” –The Washington Post“This book is a writer’s oft-raided treasure trove…the world’s best ‘crossover book’…It does time-travel better than Narnia…The story floats on brilliant, eccentric dialogue and…never loses its snowy-Christmas, Nutcracker enchantment…” –The Independent (UK)Normally I don't look at reviews when I'm reviewing a book. But in this case, I knew that this book is considered a classic of chilren's literature and is also cherished by grown ups. I do like children's literature! I'm passionately in love with Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons series, I absolutely adore Wind in the Willows and reread it or watch any of the movies every time I get the chance to, I cut my teeth on Thornton Burgess' Mother West Wind series, etc.But I just couldn't get into this book. Perhaps because I haven't read The Midnight Folk, thus coming in mid-story, as it were. But the plot seemed convoluted and disjointed, the characters seemed stilted, and the battle of good vs. evil (the staple of every really good children's books) seemed confused -- I never could sort out why the Wolves wanted to win or what they thought they might gain by winning.I'm disappointed - I'd hoped to add another delicious children's tale to my collection of treasures.
You can also read this review on my blog Another World. Have you ever returned to a book that you loved during your childhood, only to discover that it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, when read in adulthood? Well, that pretty much sums up my experience with John Masefield’s children’s classic, The Box Of Delights. As a child it was one of my favourite books; one which, along with The Chronicles Of Narnia, proved to be very influential in nurturing my early love of fantasy literature. Yet its numerous flaws, that escaped my notice as an eight year old, are glaringly obvious to me now, as an adult. Originally published in 1935, The Box Of The Delights, owes much of its more recent popularity to the BBC’s television adaptation of the book in 1984, which immortalised the words: “the wolves are running”, for myself and a generation of eighties children. In fact, it was my fondness of this six part mini-series that lead to me receiving the book as a Christmas present that year. In theory, the books genre bending blend of children’s adventure, English folklore, crime drama and fantasy should have made for a compelling and memorable read; I certainly believed it to be so when I was a kid. Instead, these various elements serve to highlight that Masefield couldn’t make up his mind which genre he wanted to write. This indecision results in a rather schizophrenic book, which starts off strongly, before its narrative becomes more and more incoherent as it progresses. A part of me suspects that Masefield’s heart wasn’t really into writing this story. That is the only explanation I can come up with for some of the gaps and inconsistencies in the plot. I’m still at a loss as to how the author and the publisher failed to notice that one of the main characters inexplicably disappears from the story before the end, never to be mentioned again, by either the narrator or any of the characters. So what is the story actually about? I imagine the eight year old me would have little trouble answering that question. The adult me, however, had a hard time making sense of it all. But to summarise the plot as succinctly as I can, The Box Of Delights, is about young schoolboy, Kay Harker, who returns home from boarding school to spend the Christmas holidays with family and friends. He encounters, Cole Hawlings, an elderly Punch & Judy performer who possesses a magic box which allows its owner to travel through space and time (and an assortment of other fantastical things). Kay learns that Mr. Hawlings is being pursued by a criminal gang of shape-shifting adversaries, lead by the caricature bad guy, Abner Brown, and his nefarious wife, Sylvia Daisy Pouncer, who want to posses the box for their own purposes. Cole entrusts Kay with safeguarding the box from falling into the wrong hands, and so, Kay spends the rest of the book thwarting Abner Brown’s dastardly schemes to acquire the box. Many people are unaware that The Box Of Delights is a sequel, to the less well known, The Midnight Folk. I myself only learned of this in adulthood. I know a few readers who attribute the confusion that some readers experience while reading this book, to the fact that they had not read its predecessor first. However, I can categorically state that reading The Midnight Folk first does not make The Box Of Delights any more coherent. In closing, I will refrain from judging The Box Of Delights too harshly. It is a book intended for children, so while I cannot recommend it to adult readers, I am mindful of the fact that I did love the book when I was a child. With that being the case, I see no reason why today’s children can’t enjoy the book as much I did, all those years ago.
Do You like book The Box Of Delights (2008)?
On the train back home for Christmas holidays, Kay Harker encounters some curious characters. There are the two young men, one chubby faced and one foxy faced and both apparently up to no good, and then there is the strange old man at the station with his dog and a large backpack. He tells Kay, as Kay helps him on with his pack, “I do date from pagan times and age makes joints for creak.” Later he tells Kay to spread the word that “The Wolves are Running,” and asks his aid to stop their Bite. Soon Kay is dashing rapidly back trough time and rapidly across great distances as he and his friends attempt to foil the plots of the evil Wizard Abner Brown and his accomplice in crime Sylvia Daisy Pouncer and their criminal gang.Surreally magical and inventive Kay’s romp through time and space to save the Christmas service at Tatchester Cathedral and rescue all the Cathedral clergy and staff from a horrible fate is as full of delights as the magical box that gives the book its title. Poet Masefield nimbly combines folklore, history, and 1930s gangsters in possession of flying motorcars in a tone that accurately captures a child’s sense of adventurous play.
—Bruce
I enjoyed the film when it first came out and watched some of it regularly at Christmases afterwards just for the Christmassey mood it generated. It was overlong with episodes that bore no relation to the story just added in (I thought so the BBC could show off their burgeoning special effects department) and the next generation never took to it. I thought it was about time I read the classic book but it was exactly the same. It is a sort of dreamy, fantasy stream of consciousness (or perhaps unconsciousness) with many imaginative ideas but no coherence.It is a book of its time 1935 and doesn't really work for modern readers.
—Kath
It starts well with some very atmospheric scenes – the men on the train and Cole Hawkins magic show are particularly good, as are the trips to the fort – but as it goes on it has become very repetitive and convoluted. How many times do we have to have Kay 'go small' to spy on Abner talking to himself in exposition to reveal endless details of the non existent plot?Stylistically it's dated - with Enid Blyton-y dialogue. The magic seems barely thought out and apart from a few good moments at the start is pretty mundane. The writing of the action ending is really bad and you barely get any sense of real geography or concrete quality to it. The deus ex machina has nothing to do with the main story or plot and the boy hero is basically a witness to events that do not require any action on his part. Also, The way the police and grown ups behave in response to the children going missing is totally unbelievable and though you might get away with it once - afterall grownups in kids books are always a little clueless - The fact everyone reacts this way as multiple characters are kidnapped in suspicious circumstances starts to stretch my credulity to the limit. I see that Frank Cotrell Boyce is currently writing a film adaptation, I have fond memories of the TV version and I imagine either would be preferable to this very dated book.
—Peter
