Book appears to be circa 1977

The initial opening to the book was a bit rocky, I almost have up and put the book away, but I'm glad I didn't. Whilst there's a few places where the translation could have been done better, for the most part you can forgive them and read on without it having too much of a negative effect.

Largely this book is a sweet reminder of the imagination of youth and the generous portion sizes of children's emotions. Fear of grown ups, timidity around more dominant children, excitement, love, bravery, all in excessive doses without the full concept of rational or forward thinking (did you know that the party of the brain responsible for processing consequences isn't developed until adulthood?).

I just wish this sort of coming of age story didn't need to involve death, almost every time. Thankfully nothing serious happens, but it certainly wasn't necessary to even get to that point. My guess is that facing death is an important part of learning to live, but still, it puts me off slightly.

One thing I enjoyed about the format of the book is some fairly short chapters. It meant I could pick up the book more often and get through it quite quickly.