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Andrew’s fantasy novel, With My Knife (Omnibus Books, 1992) was shortlisted in 1994 for both the National Children’s Book Award and the Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Award. It was published by Scholastic in the United States under the title Beyond The Open Door (1993); and has been reprinted 9 times since its first release. It is currently available in an a 3-novel volume titled The Chronicles of Klarin (Wombat Books, 2018)—the other novels, Dragonfox and The Red Dragon, being sequels to With My Knife.
Ninety-one readers have rated With My Knife an average of 4.3 (out of 5) on Goodreads, “the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations.” Fifteen of these readers have written reviews of the novel. A sample:
Another book inherited from my daughter–I expected a “cheap read,” and discovered instead a true stand-out. This story would make an ideal study for a writer who wants to learn the technique of keeping it relatively simple (YA level) while still turning in a tour-de-force of a fantasy story. Needless to say, this is another author I’ll be following.
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I wavered between 3 and 4 stars. Then I imagined I was a child reading this book (which is the intended audience) and I settled on 4. Then I sat down to describe what I liked about the book and realized that as simply as it was written, I actually loved it and had to change it to a 5 star rating. … I wish I could have read this as a 10 year old. It would have made me cry and would have changed a great many things about how I see the world. I look forward to reading the sequels with my own 10 year old son.
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My teacher read this to me when I was in grade 5 or 6. The story has always stuck with me, but I only recently remembered the title. This is a great book to read to your kids and I fully intend to do so with my children one day. Absolutely loved it.
… I loved it when I was ten and I love it now. More than likely a book I’ll be reading to my own children, and a book my own children will read one day. “With My Knife” is a lovely piece of children’s fantasy.
My son and I really liked this book. Simple fantastical story which keeps you hooked until the end.
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My teacher read this to me when I was in grade 5 or 6. The story has always stuck with me, but I only recently remembered the title. This is a great book to read to your kids and I fully intend to do so with my children one day. Absolutely loved it.
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Goodreads reviews of
With My Knife on this website
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