The Song of Seven

I received this ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. So thank you netgalley and publishers.
I know this is a middle grade book but I read it to my 3.5 year old and she loved it! :) ( ive been reading all kinds of books to her since she was a newborn and she has developed a love for books ♡ ) It was very interested and intriguing! She would ask a lot of questions and "read" along with me ( she would repeat what I said )
We both really enjoyed it and so will you! :) The synopsis is as follows

" An exciting new stand-alone adventure by the internationally bestselling author of The Letter for the King.

Seven paths, seven unlikely friends, and one extraordinary adventure featuring magicians, secret passages, conspiracies, hidden treasures, a black cat with green eyes and a sealed parchment which predicts the future.
At the end of every schoolday, new teacher Mr Van der Steg entertains his pupils with tall tales of incredible events, which he claims really happened to him - involving hungry lions and haunted castles, shipwrecks and desert islands. One day, when he can't think of anything suitably exciting to tell them, he invents a story about a very important letter which he's expecting that evening, with news of a perilous mission. Evening arrives and so, to his surprise, does an enigmatic letter...
And so Mr Van der Steg is drawn into a real-life adventure, featuring a grumpy coachman, a sinister uncle, eccentric ancestors, a hidden treasure, an ancient prophecy and Geert-Jan, a young boy who is being kept prisoner in the mysterious House of Stairs."

P.s. I was going to rate it on good reads but I could not find it on there.

Follow Mr Van der Steg, who entertains his students with fantastic stories, as he is pulled into an incredible one himself. There is mystery, magic, adventure, and danger and it also involves a cheeky and equally adventurous Geert-Jan. Ride the winding story across the seven ways, unwind the prophecy, and find the treasure at the House of Stairs.
Appeals to readers of all ages.

Spare, Vintage Post-Modern (?), Whimsical, Strange, Fantasy Adventure

I very much enjoyed this book, and so want to do it justice in trying to describe it as a reading experience. It was first published in 1966, in Dutch, and has now been translated. Dragt was, and is, rightfully celebrated in the Netherlands and it is a real pleasure to have her available now to English readers. Because many of her books have sci-fi and fantasy elements and are set in near-future environments, and because of her crisp and direct style, (and maybe because of the translator's inclinations), this book has a very modern, and even slightly experimental, feel.

The story starts off modestly, perhaps with the suggestion that our mild school teacher hero will have a mysterious adventure of some sort that will shake him up a bit. He always ends his class school day with wild made up stories about his earlier life as an adventurer/spy/secret agent, and his tall tales hold his young charges in thrall. But, one day he pretends that he is awaiting a secret terribly important letter. Later, he in fact receives a secret terribly important letter. With that, we are off the rails.

This isn't exactly Lewis Carroll territory, at least not with a literal rabbit hole, but it gets close. A pub that is an abandoned ruin one day is full of customers the next, and then back to being a ruin again. One character appears repeatedly in different guises, and each time denies that he is any of the others. There is a Sevenway intersection in the woods, but possibly with only six paths leading from it. Distances become impossibly long or impossibly short. Everything, including especially time, becomes just a bit distorted and confused and vague. Big houses seem small inside, and vice versa. Hints and clues are cryptic and incomplete. No one can be trusted. How many conspiracies, and conspirators, are there? There is sometimes a sinister shadow over the proceedings. And as the action picks up past the halfway point there are enough odd and quirky characters to populate half a dozen novels.

All of this is written in a spare and oblique style that is descriptive and even sometimes atmospheric, but often suggests rather than explains. Our hero can be quick to anger, or simply bemused. He both resists the adventure, and yet is quite engaged. He can be detached, confused, or totally focused, often changing from paragraph to paragraph. When he isn't being shrewd he can be dense. Luckily, he never loses our interest, and he is clearly on track ultimately to become the hero he was perhaps always meant to be.

This struck me as a book for an ambitious, independent and confident reader, perhaps with a bit of a taste for oddball adventurers and a certain amount of flexibility in the matter of narrative clarity, and isn't that a nice thing to be able to say?

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

I was drawn to the description I was given of this book initially even though it said it was geared towards middle schoolers. I'm so glad I took a chance with this one. What I found is a well written novel full of intrigue, mystery and magic.

Frans Van De Steg is a professor for ten and eleven year olds. When school started at the beginning of the summer semester he found by the end of the day the children were too rowdy. His solution to this was at the end of every day he started telling them of his experiences as a thief and knight and other wildly spun tales with Frans as the hero. He carefully left them on edge wanting more each day and they were well behaved.

One day he finds himself in the middle of his own tale. A tale he had only started by telling his students he was expecting a letter from an unsavory character. He really was expecting a letter. That night a terribly destructive storm overtakes his home leaving behind a mysterious letter on the doorstep. But not the letter he was expecting. As he follows the directions in the letter he is led to SevenWays. He inadvertently discovers truth behind the nursery rhyme his student often sang called The Song of Seven. The places in the rhyme are real.

He becomes paranoid that the children are pulling a prank on them but realizes this it much too elaborate. He begins having trouble distinguishing what is real and what is illusion. He finds himself on a quest to save a young boy who is held captive in The House of Stairs, the seventh way in SevenWays that ripple don't think exists.

This is just the beginning of this adventure. This book is full of puzzles and riddles, leaving you hooked trying to figure out what's going on while Frans interacts with magical people and places trying to come up with an elaborate escape plan and rescue the boy.

This book is not limited to middle schoolers and I believe anyone over the age of ten can thoroughly enjoy this book.

I received this novel from NetGalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.

wonderful story to read during your leisure time........

This is an English translation of a well-known Dutch tale, one that was even made into a television show.

Mr. Van der Steg is a teacher, who loves to tell adventurous tales to his pupils the last minutes of school—something the pupils enjoy as well. When he announces one day that he's waiting for a letter, said letter is suddenly swept to him in a storm and signed Gr...Gr. He's sure it's a practical joke thought out by some students, but when a carriage arrives to take him to the mysterious Gr...Gr..., the mysterious tale begins.

I have not read the original Dutch version nor have I seen the television version, and knew nothing of this particular tale.

Different cultures have a different way of telling stories (especially when it's during an earlier decade). The main character of this one is a teacher in his mid-twenties, who has a couple of personalities quirks which are sure to grab young readers' interest. He finds himself in an adventure, where many things are odd and others come across as pure fantasy. Strange things lurk around every bend—mysterious coaches, haunted pubs, magicians and a secret treasure—and each element accompanies an even stranger side character. It has quirks, oddities, and a lovely dose of fun which pulls into an imaginary yet real life world. It's exactly the kind of adventure kids can devour.

The writing is whimsical but, coming from an earlier time, does carry a more traditional feel. Some terms won't be familiar, but it's not enough to let the reader fall out of the story. This is told from an adult's—albeit an interesting ones—point of view, which, combined with the vocabulary, might scare off more reluctant readers if they were to read this one their own.

A wonderful mystery unfolds, which is so wrapped up in the odd happenings, that the clues and truth is hard to guess or find. It's fun to see what will happen next, and there's a nice level of tension the whole way through. As is with these tales, the end truth roots in reality and most of the fantasy elements shed their magic. But there's still a dust of possibility left behind, which allows dreams to fly.

As a translation to introduce English speaking kids to tales from other cultures, this is a well-done book and will draw readers in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin's Children's Books for providing me with an e-copy to read and review.

"The Song of Seven" by Tonke Dragt was a true joy to read. It is perhaps the most exciting fairytale mystery/adventure I have ever read.

Yes, it is that good.

So good that the only thing I felt compelled to do was sit back, relax, and read - and write down names here and there (there are a lot of names to remember!). I constantly had to know what would happen next.

The story is compelling right from is ordinary and humble beginnings. The main character, Frans van der Steg (love his name!), goes from teaching and telling stories to his young class to finding himself in the middle of what could only be described as a story come to life. And certainly not something Frans could ever conjure on his own. The whole thing is ridiculous and wild (in a good way), as Frans would agree, but even he can't escape the magic and mystery of the events that unfold.

The only thing I'm still confounded about is how someone (Frans) could forget a certain something of particular importance for 300+ pages time and time again. It was funny at times but, my goodness, I felt bad for the man.

Truly, "The Song of Seven" is an unexpectedly wonderful story of truly unimaginable proportions.

We all have those books that are intrinsically linked to our ideas and memories of childhood and family. They are the books passed down by parents, the books that are read to you when you’re young, the books that have become inside jokes. Most of those books for me are either Dutch or German and have literally been passed down to me by my father and mother. One of these is De Zevensprong, a delightful adventure about storytelling, reading, hidden treasures and friendship. So when adult me saw an English translation of that childhood favourite, I knew I had to get my hands on it and see if that innocent magic would retain its power not only in another language but also on another, older, me. Thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, De Zevensprong, or The Song of Seven, was a major part of my childhood. Some of my favourite memories are of my father reading the book to me when I was young, or Skyping home while at University only to realize my family is binge-watching a Dutch TV adaptation of the book. When a novel is that close to your heart it becomes close to impossible to be objective about it. The same counts for the Harry Potter books, for example. I will defend those books to the death, simply because they have become a part of me and my history. The Song of Seven is special, in a way, because it deals in and of itself with story telling as well. Mr. Van der Steg, a relatively new teacher, entertains his students by telling them wild tales of distant and imagined lands. The children adore the adventure, while he is able to keep them quiet and engaged. All is well, until a new story begins and it comes to life. Stories are no longer a distant thing, suddenly there is danger around the corner and people aren’t who they say they are. What always added to this novel’s magic for me was that it felt so true to the gentle magic of the Eastern provinces of the Netherlands, where folk tales and legends lurk behind every corner and all names and rhymes have meaning and power.

The Song of Seven is a children’s book, but one of those that has something to offer to readers from all ages. At the centre of the novel is teacher Frans Van der Steg, who is still relatively new to his surroundings and his students. Van der Steg is the guiding thread through the novel, desperately wanting to know just what is going on, while trying to live up to the brave heroes of his own tales. One day, he tells his students he is waiting for a terribly important letter since he can’t think of any stories to tell. Lo and behold, a letter does arrive for him, setting him and his school children on a path of adventure and mystery. The reader is as fresh and unaware as Van der Steg, which means that each of his discoveries and confusions are shared by the reader. Although the novel starts very calmly, the plot really picks up speed about a third into the book and it becomes almost impossible to put down. Tonke Dragt put everything you might want from an adventure story into this book, and yet it never feels to full or unfocused. The mysterious prophecy and confusing Sevenways don’t distract from the importance of friendship and love for adventure that the novel tries to instill.

Tonke Dragt is, rightfully, celebrated in the Netherlands. Her fiction has enriched countless of childhoods with her stories of adventure. Her writing style is straightforward and spare on big words, perfect for the younger readers, and yet, without any fancy frills, Dragt is immensely good at creating atmosphere. Whether it’s the House of Stairs or a rambunctious school class, she describes everything in such a way that you don’t even have to close your eyes to see it. She also doesn’t underestimate her readers, and there are many points in the book that remain mysterious. Dragt retains that sense of magic and legend by not spelling everything out perfectly, nor by giving a reason for everything. Some things just are, and The Song of Seven almost feels like a snapshot, capturing the potential for many more stories to come. De Sevensprong is beautifully translated by Laura Watkinson, who captures the easy flow with which Dragt writes her books, as well as the charming quirks of her characters. I was very happy to see that all the Dutch names were retained, rather than changed, even if they might take some getting used to for English readers. The Song of Seven is the perfect book for adventurous young readers and their parents.

I adored The Song of Seven. It is that simple. In a sense, Tonke Dragt’s books are part of the reason why I have always held the secret ambition to become a writer. Her novels are heartwarming and inspiring, and I’m incredibly happy that her stories will now be available to even more readers.

Technically, this isn’t a new book, but since it’s newly translated into English (reading challenge bingo square!), I say it counts. I also say it’s utterly delightful, and you should probably get your name on the library hold list, stat. I have fallen in love over the past couple of years with the weird sweetness — I don’t know how else to describe it — of Scandinavian children’s literature, and I can see that I am going to have to broaden my reading horizons to the Netherlands, too, now.

Frans van der Steg leads the least adventurous life imaginable — except for in his fantastic stories, which keep his class of mischievous students spellbound while he’s telling them. So when Frans gets a mysterious job offer that launches him into an even more mysterious adventure, he’s equal parts delighted and terrified. Frans finds himself tutoring a not-particularly-nice count’s charge at their isolated mansion just outside of town — a job, he discovers, that he’s been hand-selected to do by the boy’s friends in town, who are determined to get him away from his evil guardian. Mixed up in all this is the mystery of the treasure hidden by the mansion’s original count, which legend tells only this particular young boy can discover. Frans must figure out the clues, forge new alliances, and convince his new student that he’s on his side before time runs out.

There are lots of wonderfully weird bits — a happy forest dweller and an anarchistic biker might actually be the same person, a card trick-playing man might actually be a magician, and the mansion’s staircase maze interior creates moments both spooky and hilarious. I love the old-fashioned vibe of the language, which echoes both classic fairy stories and the swashbuckling stories Frans tells his students at school. Geert-Jan, the lonely heir and Frans’ new student, is both lonely and rebellious, and his developing letters-based relationship with the students in Frans’ class is one of the sweetest parts of the book. There’s a motley cast of characters, good and bad, and Frans is a likable hero — choosing an adult to anchor a late elementary/middle grades book like this is an unconventional choice, but something about it really works for me. I’m going to be recommending this to everyone.

(I just discovered that there is a Dutch television series based on this book that’s supposed to stick pretty closely to the story, and I cannot rest now until I get my hands on a copy.)

A cracking adventure story from Tonke Dragt, who also wrote the wonderful The Letter for the King. Intended for children, but also an entertaining read for the young at heart or for families to experience together. Highly recommended.