The Firework Maker's Daughter

By Philip Pullman and Stephen Russell

Lila dreams to become a firework-maker, just like her father. In order to become a true firework-maker, she sets off alone on a perilous journey to reach the terrifying Fire-Fiend. She travels through jungles alive with crocodiles, snakes, monkeys and pirates, and climbs up the scolding volcano. On finding the Fire-Fiend, she realises more is at stake than she ever imagined. Will Lila survive? Lila’s is the kind of magical adventure that all children dream of and the gripping story of the fleet-footed heroine will livelong in the memory of anyone who enters her world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: OBERON BOOKS Ltd
• Release date: May 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781849435185

Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman (b. 1946) is one of the world’s most acclaimed children’s authors, his bold, brilliant books having set new parameters for what children’s writing can say and do. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy, installments of which have won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. In 2003, the trilogy came third in the BBC’s Big Read competition to find the nation’s favorite book, and in 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children’s literature. In 2007, Northern Lights became a major Hollywood film, The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Pullman has published nearly twenty books, and when he’s not writing he likes to play the piano (badly), draw, and make things out of wood.

Reviews for The Firework Maker's Daughter

[evalangui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I liked this one but it was not that clever, if you see what I mean. The descriptions are good but the story is fairytalishly formulaic and it does not manage to go beyond that.

[nmhale_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pullman is best known for his epic fantasy the Dark Materials trilogy and other young adult novels, but he has also written books that can be read with a younger audience, and I find that I like these stories just as much as his more ambitious work. In this novella, a fireworker maker raises his daughter on his own after his wife passes away. He trains her in his art, and when she is older she tells him that she wishes to learn the final secrets that will make her a fireworks master as well. Her father is dismayed, and tells her that no girl should take up that trade, but should marry instead.

[mark_14_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I really disliked The Firework-Maker's Daughter by Philip Pullman. In fact, I hated it! The book talked about false things and had a bad story overall.I do not recommend this book to any one. It is one of the worst books I have ever read!

[cars27_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book because Lila had a very big adventure,I stated likeing this book when we did it for English comprehension at school.

[avcr_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lila is the daughter of firework-maker Lalchand. Her Mother died when she was little and Lalchand teaches her to make the fireworks. But just when she really wants to move forward with the vocation, her Father insists that she is just a girl and needs to find a husband. Here is the typical story of insurgent female equality rearing its ugly head against standard paternal constructs. Humorously told, Lila has after all the three gifts, which are talent, courage, and luck. One can only gain wisdom through suffering and risk, and Lila sparkles in the end. If You Liked This, Try: Clockwork by Philip Pullman, Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman, The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman, The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman, The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one gets a whole star extra because of the illustrations by S. Saelig Gallagher. If the 3 non-southeast Asian characters hadn't appeared as big nosed closeset-eyed as the rest of the men than I'd feel guilty at the my delight in the illustrations. They are full of a whimsical joy which, alas, is not intrinsic to the text, which isn't bad but tries too hard.