John Rowe Townsend (1922–2014)

Who says only posh kids can have adventures? This is a period piece from the early 1960s, when to be working class was fashionable, and to be Northern working class even better. These were the days of kitchen sink drama, Room at the Top, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, Kes, A Kind of Loving, A Taste of Honey, the popularity of D H Lawrence, and of course the Beatles, John Peel even adopting a Scouse accent instead of his public-school one.
Set apparently in Manchester, where the kids are temporarily abandoned by the rather inadequate adults supposedly looking after them. They make a much better job of looking after themselves, being bright, resourceful and loyal, even defeating a gang of crooks into the bargain.
The typical blockish, scratchy illustrations of the time are in this case a letdown though, being quite ugly and making the characters look unnecessarily glumpish.… (más)

England, ca 1976
Norman Mortimer var soldat under anden verdenskrig, men nu er han bare en butiksbestyrer, der har bestyret samme butik i mange, mange år. Derhjemme styrer han familien uden at spørge dem om hvad de synes om det. Konen May er vænnet til aldrig at blive taget med på råd. En dag køber han en stor kasse af et hus, hvilket familien ikke er begejstret for, men dog accepterer. Han holder øje med samfundsudviklingen og synes ikke at det går godt. Priserne stiger og stiger. Han virker som om det nye hus kun er købt fordi det har en meget stor kælder?
Historien fortælles af hans 16-årige søn Barry Mortimer. Han har flere søskende, Ellen på 10, Geoff på 15, Agnes (kaldet Nessie) på 17. Ved det nye hus møder Nessie en Terry, som ikke er Normans kop te. I det hele taget har Norman ingen lune eller humor, men en stærk pligtfølelse til at værne om familien på sin egen måde. De flytter ind første november. Landet er i krise, der er livlig inflation, regeringen trykker flere papirpenge, men udlandet vil ikke have dem. Priserne stiger og der er færre varer. Nessie spekulerer over hvad faderen har gang i og får fat i nøglen til kælderen. Faderen har sat hylder op i hele kælderen og stiller store mængder ris, konserves, sæbe og lignende ind på dem. Hans mål er at have forråd til 2 år. Det er som Noahs ark bare uden dyr. Og det er helt bogstaveligt, for Ellens hund Peggy bliver givet væk, fordi han ellers ville have aflivet den. Barry begynder også at gå faderen på klingen og han fortæller at han har lånt til det hele, for om kort tid er pengene ikke det papir værd, de er trykt på. Der går et par måneder. Der er færre varer og sortbørshandel begynder at tage fart. Hamstring og sortbørshandel bliver strengt forbudt. Barry møder en Wendy Farrar. Norman bytter nogle sko for en hel del kød ved slagteren. Til gengæld bliver Nessie irriteret på ham over en snyltegæst mr Gerald, som han har inviteret ind. Nessie flytter hen til Terry på sin 18-års fødselsdag. Senere flytter også Ellen og May, så der kun er Norman, Geoff og Barry til at holde samling på det hele. Barry engagerer sig i en privat maduddelingstjeneste DEL LIGE, og det er ikke så dumt for han får gode forbindelser til mange mennesker.
Norman får snylteren til at flytte, men til gengæld angiver denne ham.
I første omgang sker der ikke mere, men det er gået op for Barry at enten ender det med en katastrofe eller også må Norman acceptere at dele sit hamstringsgods. Det ender med at kælderen bliver plyndret / tømt af to-tre forskellige bander / organisationer, men ingen bliver dræbt selv om Norman sårer en enkelt overfladisk.
Nogenlunde samtidigt begynder det at gå bedre for landet og det værste tryk tager af.

Udmærket lille bog med en masse solide etiske overvejelser at gøre sig. Hvad er de gode og hvem er de onde? Er der overhovedet nogle onde i historien?… (más)

So dated.?á And Townsend misses much, misunderstands much.?á (He doesn't like Peter Pan, and thinks Winnie-the-Poo simple fluff, for example.)?á?á Part of the problem is that he's comparing only British books, only up to the early 1960s.?á So many wonderful books have been written since then, that most of the obscure titles he mentions that he'd like to see reprinted would actually pale in comparison.?á?á I'm not sure of his qualification to write this survey, but he is a parent, so I did keep reading and trying to glean tidbits.

One way we know it's dated: he bemoans the lack of literature for adolescents - I guess the YA designation was not yet created, and so the few titles that could be enjoyed by teens were not yet inspiring writers to fill the niche with more... and he does understand exactly what teens need that they can't get from Juv or Adult.?á

I want to look for some of the early original fairy tales.?á Yes, I've enjoyed Ruskin's The King of the Golden River more than once, but T. also recommends The Rose and the Ring, by W.M. Thackeray.?á Townsend doesn't appreciate Dickens' charming The Magic Fishbone, but I learned that it is one of four tales in A Holiday Romance, so I will be looking for that.?á

Walter de la Mere is 'not a hit with all children' but I do want to find The Three Royal Monkeys (nee' The Three Mulla-Mulgars), Broomsticks, and Collected Stories for Children.

T. is very British Empire, noble race, all that.?á He doesn't particularly approve of the moral qualms expressed in Roy Fuller's Savage Gold.?á I guess that means I want to try to find that adventure story.

Eilas Dillon's 'adventure stories in distinctive settings' look interesting.?á They look like much more than just adventure, too.?á Try The House on the Shore, The Island of Horses, and, especially, The Coriander, with its doctor kidnapped to serve the isolated community.

Also intriguing is Fair to Middling, by Arthur Calder Marshall, which includes allegory, satire, humor, set in The School for Incapacitated Children ... Is there a chance this has any connection with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?

Alan Garner gets a mention, of course - for two books I don't recognize: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, and The Moon of Gomrath.?á Heavy fantasy, but fantastic writing style....

Jolly witchy fantasy can be found in Carbonel and The Kingdom of Carbonel, by Barbara Sleigh. Penny's Way, by Mary Harris, captures my attention because T. mentions that ?Ç£Mother is a little afraid of her clever eldest daughter Cordelia.?Ç¥ Now, wasn't William Mayne the author of the poetic & intense fantasy Hob and the Goblins? Apparently he was quite prolific, beginning a 'distinctive' series of school stories with the attractive A Swarm in May. (If I can't get that, I can consider reading the sequels, but really the first is the best, according to T.) He also wrote treasure hunt fantasies (T.'s odd way of trying to capture what he sees as key elements) in stand-alones A Grass Rope and The Thumbstick. I sure hope I can find them. Gillian Avery seems to create refreshingly original children in The Warden's Niece and in The Elephant War. Implication is that these books are either not liked, or adored, depending on the reader. Lion at Large, by Richard Parker, looks delightful, and sympathetic to a very young child.

Now, I suspect that, in reality, I never will be able to find hardly any of those titles.?á But I will save this review for reference, and try! ?á"… (más)