I Capture the Castle

There are many good reasons to read Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle: it provides excellent advice about dressing on a budget (dye all your clothes sea-green); how to cope when the man you love falls for your elder sister (keep a diary) and your stepmother dances naked in the rain (ditto). Given that most teenagers believe their parents to be mad - and vice versa - the novel also serves as a helpful guide to recognising the fine line between eccentricity and outright insanity

Guardian

A book for anyone who is young, poor, fed up and yearning for something exciting to happen

Irish Times

When I read I Capture the Castle it immediately became one of my favourite novels of all time, and I was very annoyed that nobody had told me about it before

J.K Rowling

Unputdownable and loved by teenagers and adults everywhere.

Observer

Everyone I've passed it on to has found it a hit - it works every time, for absolutely everybody

Nigella Lawson

So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics!

National Association for the Teaching of English

A complete joy of an eccentric English coming-of-age novel

Kerry Fowler, Sainsbury’s Magazine

The perfect lockdown read - gentle and infused with a glowing warmth, featuring an emotional complexity that makes the simple story rewarding throughout

Independent