I wrote in a comment previously that writers tend to children's material because they really can't write well.  That statement is so wonderfully incorrect that I need to try again.

What I alluded to and will state more plainly here is that mass-entertainment for children has degenerated into loud, boorish, and generally grotesque cartoons, movies, and other forms of media.  Spongebob Squarepants springs to mind, along with many other darlings of both the small and silver screen. The exceptions, such as the movie adaptation of Wilson Rawls, Summer of the Monkeys, stand out as profoundly as a candle in a darkened room.

Children's literature, however, has just the opposite problem.  Authors of children's novels must be  exceptional to be even noticed.  A mediocre book is still fantastic and extraordinary stories are true gems.

Diana Wynne Jones is certainly a name known to most readers yet somehow I have missed her completely until just recently when we found her Cart and Cwidder at our local library.  This is book one of The Dalemark Quartet.

Ms. Jones opens with young Osfameron Tanamoril being called out of a day dream by his mother. Indeed, the whole story feels warm and dreamy, with events happening at a leisurely pace in the comfortable settings of this gypsy family. This is the family of Clennen the Singer, who likes long names and so gives each of his children a name to remember.

As the story continues, the dream turns from pleasant to nightmare. You won't find hordes of orcs, dragons, or other evil creatures.  Instead Ms. Jones brings this reasonably ordinary family first into ordinary tragedy then continues to heap misfortune upon them.  Their misfortune is so... common.  Moril, as our hero is more readily remembered, fights with his sister, must worry about hunger, and has to take music lessons, all while on the run.

Somehow in all this plain language and unremarkable characters Ms. Jones has crafted an engaging story that draws you in without all the high adventure. The writing is anything but unremarkable, and to imply that the characters are bland is completely false. By unremarkable I mean there is no Gandalf,  Aslan, or other character that could exist only in a fantasy story.  Moril and his siblings have individual personalities and talents, but could easily live next door.

Even the magic of the Cwidder first appears as that of an everyday magical musical instrument. By the end of the book, Moril has discovered only some of its ability - or perhaps his own. 

I am really perplexed as to how Ms. Jones has created such a wonderful story in such an ordinary way.  And since reviews must point out some faults as well as the good parts, here's the bad news:

There is a scene toward the end where Moril lapses into a long internal dialog as he ponders over how to make the Cwidder work.  I dislike long internal dialogs, even if they are necessary.

So there you go.  Cart and Cwidder, a very common extraordinary literary work by Diana Wynne Jones.