Take The Court Of The Stone Children (Stone Children, #1) Narrated By Eleanor Cameron Listed As Physical Book

discovered this book in the school library inth grade and read it several times, It was magical and mysterious and delicious, For some reason it found its way back into my mind recently, and when I finally remembered the title I was so delighted, I ordered myself a copy on Amazon.
Rereading it as an adult was disappointing, I felt like the writing was labored and didn't feel the magic at all this time, So the jury's still out on this one, I'm going to read it to my kids and see what they think, I liked this book, because it draws you into another world, Firstly, the world of museums which is great, and secondly, the world of someone's diary from France in the time of Napoleon, Nina is a character that you can identify with her loneliness, and her imagination, Thanks to google for helping me find the title and author of this book! This book was SO, COOL. I seriously need to reread it, Its sort of a mystery and a lot of it takes place at a museum thing and theres an ancient mystery to solve and the heroine, whos just a normal girl, meets this other girl who well, I guess shes a ghost but that sounds creepy when I put it that way but its NOT, I promise, and shes a French girl from the time of Napoleon and the heroine needs to help her solve a hundredsofyearsold mystery involving

a statue and a journal and a painting and a murder I think I dont remember it all that well, I just know I really loved it, especially because there was this awesome boy who was really cool whose name was Gil.
He was all mysterious and epic, :D Anyways, it's really hard to describe but for some reason I really enjoyed it a TON, Oh, how I loved this book as a child, I think this book is the entire reason I love San Francisco so much, Because I discovered it through this book, The protagonist has no friends and spends all her time daydreaming and consorting withth century cats and solving mysteries, A favourite. It is odd, considering that I could hardly remember this The Court of the Stone Children's plot and haven't read it in many year and have never investigated the author, that it has remained in my mind one of my favourite books.
However, I may have discovered something interesting about myself reading it today: this book might be responsible for my love of the French language.


The plot itself is not overly complicated, though some of it is convoluted, Essentially it is about a girl who is growing up and helps solve a mystery from the past, She learns to accept her new city by being accepted in a circle of friends and learning about her own passions, I love how well Nina is written, she comes alive off the page, The mystery of the story is very different from any in other books, and the setting is also fairly unique, It feels like Cameron lived the story as she wrote it, and she doesn't overwrite with purple prose,

I'm really glad that this lived up to my memory's view, and I will be keeping it on the shelf for future rereads.
A very fine book, Im sorry not to have read it till now! Its a ghost story, and historical fiction, and speculative fiction all at once in one fine middle grade novel.
I loved this book as a kid! Part of it was the fact that Eleanor Cameron wrote about San Francisco, which was not too far from where I lived.
Part of it was also my fascination with marble statues, like the titular "Stone Children" of this book, Mostly I could identify with the lonely Nina, who dreams of being a museum curator and encounters Dominique, a lovely ghost from Napoleon's time.
Nina finds herself having to solve a mystery that took place centuries before, This is a great book for the intellectually curious, especially if they like history and theories about space and time, but I think any kid can relate to Nina's struggles to find her place in the world.
This is the story of Nina as she try's to fit into a new city she does not love, it's the story of Domi who is from the past, it is the story of a beautiful French museum in San Francisco and the story of a whole slew of unique characters! When I began this book I expected a simple children's story but I was deceived! This book explores big ideas of time and history! Has fantastic writing and descriptions! The story line sucks you in and you can't wait for wrongs to be righted! Once I finished I wanted to begin again! I never quite connected to the characters on this one.
Somehow the children didnt seem very much like children, or at least their dialogue didnt, In Odiles case this makes perfect sense, but for Nina its a bit more problematic, Oct.Interesting but a little fantastical okay, more than a little! because there is a live ghost, P I think the story would have been just as interesting and much better if the characters had figured out the ''mystery'' without the inclusion of a ghost! This is a long ago favorite but I never realized until tonight there was a book that followed it.
Nina's a young teen maybe, new in San Francisco, awkward with peers and mostly alone, Through Gil, she discovers the French Museum, and there meets the mysterious Dominique, The voice writing inrd person seemed somewhat affected and selfconscious, but reminiscent of a young teen, It brought back some familiar feelings, I would have liked fewer grownups in the story, What comes through strongly is the sense of mystery, magic, and the passion for the museum, I bought The Court of Stone Children when I was in Elementary school, honestly just because the picture of Nina on the cover looks just like one of my cousins.
I started it, but when it turned out to be above my reading level I put it down and forgot about it until about a year later, when I read it again and immediately decided it was my favorite book of all time.


Although it is no longer my favorite book, The Court of Stone Children remained in the back of my mind the way few books ever have, hence the fivestar rating.
To this day I smile whenever I hear the name Dominique, remembering how magical it seemed when I first read it, Although I can't remember some of their names anymore, the groundskeeper, Gil, and even Domi's cat still seem as real to me as the first time I read the book.


Five from me, for being the most memorable and magical book of my childhood, and for creative and unique characters.
Aided by the journal of a young woman who lived inth century France, Nina solves a century old murder mystery, Rereading books you enjoyed as a child can be interesting, Particularly if you do a number and the only conclusion you can come to, instead of "How did I enjoy such rubbish" or "How did I manage to think this a fluffly little adventure", is "Whatever was I thinking" Some are better, some are worse, some have transformed themselves into profundity and there's absolutely nothing in your memories to tell you which will be which until you buckle down and reread.


Eleanor Cameron's oeuvre had all those reactions for me, The Court of the Stone Children was the one that had me wondering how it took on that additional meaning when I wasn't looking.


Nina is not much liking life in the Big City, and finding it hard to make friends, After she gets ridiculed for wanting to be "something in a museum" by which she means a curator she gets directed to the French Museum, which has all the things she loves in a museum.
And a girl her own age, Domi, who is waiting for her, and has been for centuries,

Dreams, diaries, paintings, establishing the truth, and friendships ensue, A wonderful book. I read it as a kid, but it didn't really take with meI think that was probably because it's a quiet, lightly plotted coming of age story about precocious kids and the philosophy of time that is posing as a time travel ghost mystery.
Now, though, I loved Nina's journey and the way that she encounters people and events without PLOT taking over, .