This book collates two of the books in this classic children's series published between the 1950s and 1970s. The original Children of Green Knowe is a lovely atmospheric story of a seven year old boy Tolly's stay at the ancient house of his great grandmother Mrs Oldknow, where the present merges with the past and Tolly meets the spirits of children who lived in the house in the 17th century. River of Green Knowe is actually the third in the series not the second and I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much. It had no characters in common with the first book and concerned the adventures of three children staying in Green Knowe, Ida, Ping and Oskar on the river, and it doesn't feel like the same place as in the first book. I thought this almost entirely lacked the atmosphere of its predecessor, apart from one mysterious timeslip sequence near the end. 5/5 for Children, 3/5 for River, so 4/5 overall ( )

Two rereads. I do love Children of Green Knowe - I like Tolly, and enjoy his adventures. The matter-of-fact way magic just sort of happens is lovely. I also love the descriptions - the everyday English countryside, and all the bits of secret around Green Knowe. And a lovely ending, after one very scary scene. I know how it ends - I've read it probably a dozen times over the years - and I still hold my breath and shiver in that dark night. The River at Green Knowe - nice, though I don't enjoy their magical adventures as much - they're sort of disconnected and random. The descriptions, however, are even better - when they close their eyes and tell what they hear on the river, it's wonderful. A bit of casual racism at the beginning; Hsu doesn't seem to mind being called Ping, and in fact he's as talkative as either of the others, but still. And more of the same at their first meal. Hmph. There's a faint flavor of Swallows and Amazons to some of their adventures, though S&A never had the magic touch most of theirs do. Fun, though not my favorite Green Knowe story. ( )

This volume consists of two books: The Children of Green Knowe, and The River at Green Knowe, originally published in the middle of the 20th century.

These books focus on people who are staying at the old mansion known either as Green Knowe or Green Noah, which was apparently based on the author's own home. Ghosts are evident in a very matter-of-fact way, and the genre is an unusual mixture of adventure, history and fantasy. The writing is perhaps a bit rambling in places, but the children seem quite real and the books are very readable.

Children from the age of about nine or ten upwards who enjoy a wide range of reading matter would probably like this, and it would also make an excellent book for family reading aloud.

Three and a half stars, really. ( )

The Children of Green Knowe is a charming book about a young boy in post-war England, living on an estate with his grandma and a bunch of friendly child ghosts. When I was a child, I most loved the ghost story part of the book. As an adult, I marvel at the things this 7yo child was permitted to do while completely unsupervised: explore the grounds! use sharp knives! start a fire! Seems idyllic.

The River at Green Knowe takes place at the same house with different people. Three children (again, blissfully unsupervised) explore the river and experience magical events. For example, they sneak out after midnight to spend the night on a nearby island that is posted "No Trespassing" and get to spend time with a herd of untamed, winged horses. The prose is lyrical and unhurried, and the story is episodic, so it could be a good read-aloud book for younger children (read an adventure a night).

I wish more of these books would be reprinted. I wonder what the holdup is--many of the Green Knowe series appear to be unavailable except in audio format. ( )