With diphtheria in town, school a thing of the past,  and her house in ruins, any safe haven looks welcoming to Cissy Sissney - even a derelict paddle steamer stranded in a muddy field. Better still when the boat is home to old friends  But soon Cissy, Kookie and Tibs and their disapproving school teacher find themselves mere flotsam on the flooded Missouri, members – like it or not – of the Bright Lights, Last Ditch & Final Curtain Company en route for mayhem, drama, narrow escapes, huge gambles, triumphs, disasters  and a hanging.  All aboard for the voyage of a lifetime – there’s no going back!

An outbreak of diphtheria in her home town causes Cissy to be sent away to her former teacher, Loucien, until the danger has passed. To Cissy’s great delight, Loucien is living on an old steamboat which she shares with the rest of The Bright Lights Theatre Company. McCaughrean has long been a highly accomplished storyteller and here she is at her peak with an imaginative, engaging cast of characters through whom she explores landscape, history, morality and ambition.
The narrative hurtles along with wit and wisdom, acquiring new occupants of the steamboat along the way, each with their own stories to tell and their
talents to add to the formidable array possessed by the members of the Bright Lights. The prose is vividly cinematic – and, indeed, the novel would make a fine film or TV series as its episodic nature allows a selection of rich cameos to emerge, taking their parts in a journey which is every bit as intense and dramatic as the theatrical performances which the company presents.
McCaughrean creates a real sense of a tight-knit community within which dreams are fulfilled, potential is realised and mistakes are forgiven. It’s not fame or money which is important on the steamboat, but righting injustices,
helping the vulnerable, having a code to live your life by. All this is accomplished through non-stop action, razor-sharp humour and outrageously imaginative scenarios. This book is a joy from start to finish!

Books for Keeps

A diphtheria epidemic is in town and has already claimed several victims including pupils at school.  The school is closed and all the remaining children sent out of town to stay with relatives and friends until the danger is over. Cissy and two of her classmates are sent away to stay with their former teacher, Miss Loucien, now part of  a touring theatre company with her new actor husband. Their new teacher, Miss May March, comes along as a chaperone on the train journey, motivated by a sense of duty and concern for her charges' welfare.

This historical novel set in 1894 has a wonderful cast of characters. Cissy is a bright girl who is keen to learn all she can and look beyond the lives her parents who run the town grocery store. She has some inspiring role models.  Miss March is undoubtedly more qualified as a teacher, and better educated herself, but the children are very happy to be reunited with the eccentric Loucien Shades and her actor husband.  Miss March's disapproval of her predecessor is almost certainly mixed with envy of the children's affection for her.

Then there is Kookie, an affectionate and impulsive boy with lots of ideas on how to solve problems which usually have unintended consequences - if there is trouble to get into, Kookie will be there.

The Bright Lights Theatre Company has a few problems to deal with - the boat they are travelling on is a wreck and they don't have the money for repairs.  When the children and Miss March catch up with them, one of her first tasks is to get Curly released from jail, after someone objected to his profanity (a recitation of Shakespeare). There are plenty more adventures to come.  Excitingly, Loucien is in an interesting condition - she is going to have a baby.

In the late 19th century, sudden death from accidents and disease was never far away, and the possibility is a very real one in this book - at the start, another girl at school, Sarah Waters, has already died from diphtheria and sadly she is not the only one. While Pull Out All the Stops is very funny and enjoyable entertainment, there are lots of serious issues facing the characters.

one of the things i liked most about this book was its strong female characters - Cissy, Miss March, who underneath he sometimes forbidding exterior and Christian convictions is keen to help her pupils, especially the clever ones like Cissy, to fulfil their potential, and Loucien Shades.  Both women help Cissy there is more to life than the domestic small town existence of her parents - her mother wants her to leave school and work in the family store.  Although she has taken a step back from acting, Loucien will not let pregnancy and motherhood stop her. Later in the novel she suggests the educational potential for the boys at school of helping to look after the baby and learning childcare, while the girls learn something else.

Thank you to Oxford University Press for sending this delightful story to the Bookbag.

This is actually the second book featuring these characters - it would be just as enjoyable on its own, but after enjoying the first few pages I remembered I have another book by Geraldine McCaughrean and hunted it out - it turned out to be Stop The Train, which introduced Cissy and many other characters in the story.

Bookbag

Geraldine McCaughrean’s Pull Out All The Stops! is a delightful fantasy in which Cissy, escaping a diphtheria outbreak (and the accidental destruction of her house), joins up with a theatre that happens to travel by steamship. They go through towns with allegorical NAMES: Salvation, Patience, Doldrums; meanwhile, McCaughrean’s eye for description (someone’s hat is ‘low, as if it had ducked to avoid gunfire’) makes this an eccentric winner.

Library Review

Written with style and verve, this is a thoroughly enjoyable comic adventure which made me laugh out loud in places. Cissy and Kookie are sent away from home in the Mid-West of America because of an outbreak of diphtheria. The goo0d news is that they are to join their old, beloved teacher Miss Loucien, on an old showboat and the Bright Lights travelling Theatre. The quirky characters they meet guarantee a rumbustious and rollicking adventure tinged with some sadness but overall a memorable, life changing time.
Not only is the story richly woven but the characters burst into life and the wonderful and humorous turns of phrase make this a joy for those of us who relish a celebration of our language. This is a sequel to Stop The Train but is just as enjoyable in it’s own right. Geraldine McCaughrean is justifiably celebrated as one of our most original and readable authors and this is another jewel in her crown.

Linda Banner       School Librarian