the moors the merrier

When Tallulah Casey had to figure out a way to spend her summer that didn’t involve camping with her brother, she picked a summer program at a Performing Arts College in the Yorkshire Dales, the setting for the classic Wuthering Heights. And while she’s only fourteen-and-a-half and hasn’t yet been kissed by a boy, she has impressive knees and good hair and she’s ready to take on the Moors.

But when she gets to the tiny village of Heckmondwhite, she realizes it may not all be quite so easy. As she signed up late for the course, the dorms were full and she has to room with a local family. They are sweet and a little mad, and her room has a definite theme, that of squirrels. They have even made squirrel slippers for her.

Soon Tallulah meets Vaisey, another student at the college who is staying in town temporarily, over the pub, as the roof of the dorm that’s over her bed gets fixed. And she meets Ruby, the daughter of the pub owner, who is a little younger but very knowledgeable of the locals. She knows about the sheep. She knows about Connie, the owl. And she knows about the Hinchcliff boys, who all the girls are crazy about.

But when Tallulah gets into her classes, she is worried. She’s not very good at singing. And she’s definitely not a good dancer. All her friends seem to be finding their places there, growing into talents and developing new skills. But all Tallulah can do is make a fool of herself, whether it’s from her spontaneous Irish dancing, her performance as an owl laying an egg, or putting on her Dance of the Sugar-Plum Bikey.

And while some of her friends seem to be developing relationships with the boys they met from a nearby school, Tallulah can’t seem to make a connection, much as she wants to. But when a new teacher comes in to the school and sees something special in Tallulah, she has another chance to find her voice and make her own art. Will she be able to make the most of that chance, or will her dreams of staying at the Performing Arts College slip away?

Withering Tights is the first book in Louise Rennison’s series for readers a little younger than those reading her Georgia Nicholson books. (You know, or not. I found Louise Rennison’s book as an adult woman, and I have loved them all.) This has a lot of the same zany energy and boy-craziness of the Georgia books, but adding in the moors as the setting and the performance artists, and there are so many new opportunities for laughs, for friendship, for dates, for owls, and for inspiring art.

I love Withering Heights. It’s one of those books I can pull out when I’m having a difficult time, and get carried off to another place with a cast of strange and likeable characters and lots of laughs. Louise Rennison has a way of making the world seem brighter, funnier, fuller, kinder, and more amazing, and the more time I get to spend in the worlds she created, the better off I am. And the more we can share her books with others, the better off we are.