Stig of the Dump

We used to have this story on cassette tape and the whole family loved it. We're excited to have it in book form and be able to read it whenever we want. It's a great story for kids that adults can enjoy as well.

One of the most magical, realist, mythical and funniest books ever written for readers and read to of all shapes, sizes and ages. Hauntingly alive and lovely illustrations by Ardizzone

Livre commandé et utilisé par mon fils en classe de 4eme Asb. Belle édition.

This 8+ years timeslip novel was a bit of a mature read for my six-year-old son, but I read it aloud to him because my husband had loved the book as a boy. It's the first time I've read it. My son was deeply interested, and I loved the richness and dynamism - with dashes of cheeky humour! - of the writing. From 1963, the story involves Barney, a boy in Kent who spends school holidays staying with his grandmother near a big chalk pit. He is allowed to roam around the country without adult supervision, so he falls into the chalk pit, which is now used as a rubbish dump. Here is living Stig, a boy from the Stone Age. It is never explained what Stig is doing there or how he got there: he is simply there, and Barney and he quickly become friends. Both being very practical people, they do things like cut down trees, make windows out of jam jars, and find imaginative uses for other pieces of discarded rubbish. Stig loves being introduced to modern steel tools. He scares the living daylights out of the local bullying Snarget brothers. During a hunt, he ignores the fox (not edible) and tries to get a horse for his dinner. When Barney manages to tip a burglar's car into the chalk pit, Stig strips it completely like it's a wild animal. He is very useful when a circus leopard escapes and infiltrates a children's fancy dress party. And finally, on Midsummer's Night, Barney and his sister Lou somehow timeslip back to Stig's time and help his tribe build a stone monument that is still standing in Barney's time. (I had to get out a picture of Stonehenge to explain this part to my son.) We regularly had to stop and ponder what had and hadn't been invented in Stig's time, and how almost everything in the twentieth century would be new to him. I think that was the aspect of the story that my son enjoyed the most.

Brought back youthful memories as I read it to my grandson.