Ah...Crivens!

I am starting to get the hang of reading the Tiffany Aching books. I struggled with the first one because the Nac Mac Feegles spoke funny. They say things like, “Crivens!” and “Ach, stick it up yer trakkans!” So it was a tad confusing at times to know what was happening. I asked around to see if others had the same problem, and a few of my British friends said the way to read those lines was to read with a Scottish accent. WHY OF COURSE. After trying it out for myself and realising it worked, I was no longer stumbling over the Nac Mac Feegles’ feuding ways and was able to enjoy the story for the sake of it. 

    In A Hat Full of Sky (2004)Tiffany Aching returns as a witch’s apprentice. She defeated the Queen of Fairies armed with only a frying pan (and an army of Nac Mac Feegles). But never mind that. She’s 11 and she wants to learn how proper witching works. She has talent. Oodles of it, no mistake. Everyone can see it, including the Hiver, an ancient, sinister entity that takes over your mind and drives you insane. It’s looking for a body to possess and it likes the look of Tiffany, who is going to need more than a frying pan to defeat that which cannot be killed. 

    A Hat Full of Sky is the kind of books I wish I had read as a kid. It’s hella entertaining but also hella important. I know for sure with Terry Pratchett’s funny bits, I have to be careful with my food & drinks lest I spit on my kindle, which would be a testimonial like none other but disgusting and not very hygienic. And with the serious bits about growing up thrown in, the book only gets better. 

    I feel like there’s this enduring misconception that children don’t have the cognitive capacity to process big existential questions. When I hear that from parents, it makes me wanna scream, “That’s why we have fantasy! It does the work of big ideas without the big words!” And that’s what we have here with A Hat Full of Sky. It shows you that life is unfair, that being human isn’t easy, and that when you change the story, you change the world. It takes real storytelling skills to say important things and use little blue pixie men and a witch girl whose shoes are too big for her to do it. So while we’re staring incredulously at whatever heinous crime the Nac Mac Feegles have gotten themselves into, again, the big ideas are sneaking past and finding a place for their roots to take. So as with all fantasy books, read at your own risk. You have been warned.