Clive King (1924–2018)

This book was published in the year that I was born, and was one that I read at school when I was about the same age as Barney.

It has stayed with me for my whole life, and to this day I can't walk past an old quarry or the like without imagining it as a home for Stig.

Probably more than half a century since I last read it, I thoroughly enjoyed Stig of the Dump. The prose is beautiful and the half remembered narrative evokes a young person's world view that feels perfectly realised.

I am so show more glad I re-read this book, both for itself and as a reminder of my childhood. show less

Initially the low stakes, slow paced ambience of this book was a shock in comparison to contemporary world-saving, thrill-ride, kids' books but having accepted it for what it is, I found this book to be charming and by the end, delightful. It's heavily episodic, with no discernable through-plot, but Barney and Lou's adventures with Stig when they visit their grandmother are successively more extravagant and the last two chapters are particularly surprising and fun.

I don't think this has aged as well as some think. But I do think I would have loved it as a child, so I let my inner child read it, and she was interested in the inventions & in the language-free communication. Even so, I think three stars is enough. Especially because the boy is only 7 & 8 years old and given this much freedom to get into this much mischief! I don't believe in helicopter parenting but that's too much!

But I did bookdart a couple of passages:

"'Granny, have you got any show more things you don't want?'
'Things I don't want, dear?' Grandmother repeated. 'What sort of things? Chilblains? Grandchildren?'"

"A blackbird turning over dried leaves in search of worms was making a noise much too big for itself." show less

A charming story about eight-year-old Barney who spends holidays with his grandmother, explores a local chalk pit and makes friends with the cave-boy Stig who lives in a shelter at the bottom and makes tools and weapons from the accumulated detritus. Many adventures ensue, and there's also some midsummer magic.