The Star of Kazan

Wonderful surprise for an Ibbotson neophyte 2009-07-27

Reviewer: Heidi Dewey

My 7-year-old son and I have listened to many, many great classic books over the years. I recently picked up this title from the library shelf, a little trepidatious considering the author and story were completely unfamiliar to me. What a wonderful surprise we had in store! The tale is well-crafted, full of rich detail and interesting characters, with the luscious yet unexpected flavor of mystery! We love to stop the CD and try to make guesses about the future of the story, which we haven't finished reading yet. I recommend it for family enjoyment, especially during long rides in the car. It makes me look forward to our next drive into town!

Richly Textured story, a full cast of characters and great fun read 2009-05-01

Reviewer: A. Woodley

An excellent page turning read, which is about more than just the Star of Kazan which is the feature of the title. This is the story of courage and finding yourself - and in the end, it seems that is exactly what seems to happen - all the characters find out exactly what they are - good, bad, or brave.

Annika is a baby when is abandoned at a mountain chapel - and found by two servants who look after a trio of professors. Raised with love and affection in household, Annika is content, cooking with Sigrid, who found her, and playing with the other children in the square. However Annika dreams of what her mother really is - and has dreams that one day she will try to find her and take her away to her castle.

Reality is less romantic - the snobby girl from the across the square cannot bear to read or listen to her great aunt who has been shoved away to die in the attic she starts paying Annika to read to her instead. However Annika listens as the old lady talks of her life, as a perforner in Paris Music Hall, and of her happy marriage in Italy, and she shows her the photos. When she fell on hard times she pawned in the beautiful jewels she was given and had paste ones made instead. Now with no money she is forced to live with her only relative in the attic, dying slowly left mostly to herself. Annika adores the stories she tells of her life and is heartbroken when she dies.

Annika's life changes when the old lady dies, first she is left the Old Lady's belongings and secondly her mother finally comes to claim - just as Annika imagined, in a coach. Her Mother, the wonderfullly named Edeltraut Von Tannenburg from Spittal takes her back to the castle (there has always been a Von Tannenburg at Spittal) is her constant refrain to her son. There is very little food, and what food there is is very bad. However Annika is not allowed to help or be a servant. At Spittal she meets the gypsy boy one of two servants left - he is the groom, but has only stayed to care for the horse he brought with him from Hungary. As soon as the old woman servant of the house leaves he has also vowed to leave. But there is a growing affection between Annika and himself and he realises that there is more to protect in the house.

Annika remains unaffected by the grandiose indifference of the Von Tannenburgs but all isn't as it seems. In fact when she finds a picture floating in the nearby lake that she remembers from the Old Lady's trunk she doesn't understand. What could it be doing floating in a lake in Spittal. When she asks her mother everything changes, The Gypsy groom is sent away, and Annika herself is sent to a school for Young Ladies. A school where they are all known by numbers rather than name and where cruelty seems to be associated with education.

Family and friends are not too far away and through extraodinary feats of courage Annika's true fate is realised.

A wonderful story where each character has its own real story, not simply a back story to enhance Annika's own. There are some very big leaps of faith in accidental meetings, however, in life we have to recognise that these happenstance events can be very real.

Ibbotson writes wonderful tales, full of detail and characterisation. YOu can smell the cooking in this one - the Christmas carp so loving prepared with just a pinch of Nutmeg, the Kipferl's baking and candles burning on the pine tree.

A highly recommended read.

Enjoyable for the whole family 2008-11-17

Reviewer: carb101

My family - husband, wife, and girls who are 8 and 6 - listened to The Star of Kazan on CD during a long trip to the beach and back. We were all interested in the tale and enjoyed the book. I'll let you read other reviews to learn more. But specific to the audio book: the reading was excellent and beautifully modulated, and the writing was well suited to reading aloud.

From J. Kaye's Book Blog 2008-09-12

Reviewer: J. Kaye

THE STAR OF KAZAN is about an 11 year old girl called Annika. She's an orphan who was found in a church by Ellie the chef and Sigrid the maid. Every night, Annika told herself the same story about her mother looking for her long lost daughter. One day Annika's rich friend, Loremarie asked her to read a book of health to her old aunt. That's where she learned about the Star of Kazan and many other jewels. Loremarie's old aunt thought they were all fake, but they were real. Later Loremarie's Aunt died.

A few days later a person who claimed to be her long lost mother appeared.
Annika didn't know that this was not her mother, but a person after the jewels. These jewels had been willed to Annika by Loremarie's aunt, but she had no idea.

Annika and her (fake) mother moved to Norrland. There she makes friends with a gypsy's son, an odd dog and a crazy horse. Together, they discover the truth.

For anyone who loves excitement, sadness, and tragedy in a story, this would be a great book for them.

Don't miss this book! 2008-09-07

Reviewer: Joy E. Parker

I stumbled across this, and I'm so glad I did! I love this book. I want to hug it. It is just full of sweetness, but also real, beadrock life. I just wish I had a little girl so I could read it to her.