SuitabookI, Coriander
Sally Gardner
- Reading
- Read alongside the child rather than rushing the plot. Pause after difficult family events to name feelings and choices, then revisit the historical setting and discuss how the ending resolves—or leaves unresolved—the two worlds’ conflicts.
- Themes
- Growing up through adversity: Coriander faces bereavement, separation, abuse and a demanding quest, and is described as becoming more confident, mature and responsible. The narrative presents persistence and resistance to perceived wrongs as important parts of Coriander’s development.
- Power, fear and fanaticism: Puritan rule, an abusive stepmother, a preacher and an evil queen place Coriander among adults using fear or power destructively. The discussion framing and the antagonists’ actions invite scrutiny of fanaticism, coercion and people turning against one another.
- History alongside fairy tale: The story combines seventeenth-century London and Cromwell’s England with a fairy-tale world connected through Coriander’s mother. The combination is presented as imaginative and vivid, but one assessment finds the two strands insufficiently coherent and the ending abruptly resolved.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the combination of historical hardship and fairy-tale magic feels manageable for the reader. Abuse is strongly referred to rather than described in detail, but beatings, fighting, murder and attempted murder occur.