SuitabookThe dragonfly pool
Eva Ibbotson
- Reading
- You could read together and pause when the story shifts from the dance festival to political danger, checking how your child is finding that change in tone.
- Themes
- Freedom and belonging: Delderton values freedom and self-expression, while Karil longs for ordinary friends and a school like Tally’s. The contrast makes freedom and belonging central to the setup, but does not by itself establish the story’s broader judgement.
- Persecution and escape: After Karil’s father is assassinated, Tally and her friends try to help Karil escape the Nazis. The plot places the friends’ actions amid political danger, but the outline does not establish how events or the Nazi threat are depicted.
- Worth knowing
- The plot includes the assassination of Karil’s father, Nazis, and an effort to escape an inherited bleak future; these bring political danger and potential loss into the story.