Playing Beatie Bow

by Ruth Park

Book Overview

Abigal is drawn back in time and discovers Beatie Bow living in a slum of the 1870's. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140314601
• Release Date: December 1984
• Publisher: Puffin
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 0.5" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

A thoroughly absorbing and often terrifying time-slip fantasy

Young Abigail is a fairly typical teenager--blind to the needs of her mother that seem to run contrary to her own needs, and yet concerned enough over the frazzled, tired look on the face of the woman next door to take the neighbour's children, Natalie and Vincent, off her hands for a while. They go to the park where other children are playing a game they call Beatie Bow. Both Natalie and Abigail are very taken by a strange girl that Natalie calls "the little furry girl", who is closely watching the game. But the little girl flees, squawking, when they talk to her. Later, wearing a dress she has made from some Victorian crochet lace, Abigail sees the little furry girl again. When the child flees from her she follows--to soon find herself in streets she no longer recognises. Young readers might find this time-slip novel a little slow to start, even for a book published in the 1980s, but if they persist they will soon find themselves in a thoroughly absorbing, and often terrifying, tale. While it might have surprised Abigail that the undersized, illiterate girl who was always screeching "I'll punch ye yeller and green!" became someone of considerable importance, I doubt young readers will be surprised. Beatie Bow is a thoroughly unforgettable character and Ruth Park's prose is always a joy to read. It made me sad to see the reviews here posted by students who were forced to "study" the book at school. This is a serious disservice to everyone concerned because all it's likely to do is turn young people against reading. Fiction should be for fun not for study.

**Excellent**

I thought this was an absolutley fantastic book! I am only 13 but this book really reached inside and touched my heart. I fell in love with Judah's character and i bet in real life he is pretty alright. If you haven't read it i assure you it is fantastic!

Excellent Book

I got this book a few years ago. It was actually in a box marked 'discarded' since a family member brought it home from a library that was cleaning out their stocks. I was bored and finally decided to turn the pages. I couldn't stop because it was so interesting. History, adventure and a bit of romance all in one. Beatie and all characters were excellent. I read it every summer and count it as one of my favorites.

Just loved it

My best friend in Seattle gave this to me before I left for Manila to study. I was 13. I used to live in Australia and have an enormous love for fairies and anything old, so I immediately gobbled up the story. And you see how young, cynical Abigail changes into a young woman wise beyond her years, all in the span of a few months! At 22 I still love it, but I sorely want a new copy to replace my tattered one!

Another Ruth Park Success

Playing Beatie Bow is a book which recognises the inherent childish qualities of 14 year olds, and how time and experiences can turn teenage girls into wonderful adults. It looks at life through many eyes, and at the changes which society has made - both for better and for worse - in the past 150 years. Reading this book has been an annual event for me for 14 years, and I am only 25. I can thoroughly recommend a book which will have you smelling and hearing "The Rocks" in Sydney well before the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House were even physically possible!