Debut to Watch: MR. TOPPIT
Charles Elton’s debut novel, Mr. Toppit should be worth keeping an eye on when it arrives next week. The premise is quite intriguing: it’s the tale of an English family whose private moments become immortalized in an internationally famous series of children’s books – in a plight reminiscent of Christopher Robin Milne, who wrote three memoirs about living in the shadow of Winnie the Pooh. At ALA, Library Journal‘s Barbara Hoffert picked it for Shout & Share.
PW calls it “an excellent debut…. while beautifully written and graced with a unique story line, it is Elton’s characters who drive the novel and give it a depth uncommon in debuts.”
Published earlier this year in England, it got rather wildly divergent reviews, with the Independent and the Times (London) praising it for its confident storytelling, and the Guardian and the Telegraph calling it overhyped and thin.
We’ll let you know what U.S. critics have to say…
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