Captain Marryat, The Children of the New Forest

The Children of the New Forest has been on the bookshelf for ages now, and my Tsundoku backlog has got so big the bookshelf in the small room broke, and now only holds non-fiction, with fiction piled by the radiator. I think I bought it for Ella, and it's a book I'd love Fred to read in a few years, although right now he doesn't seem interested in 'chapter books' at all. Every now and then it seems we've cracked it and he gets really into a book, but it only seems to last a night and then it's a trial to try and get him to read again. Factual books seem to interest him, but not fiction. Having said that, we've been reading a graphic novel of Tom Sawyer which he does seem to want to read independently, but he doesn’t seem to have much comprehension of what has happened. Even with me reading to him he only wants the first chapter or two and then isn’t interested. Danny The Champion of The World, the BFG, The Dark is Rising: We've read the first few chapters of each before he has lost interest.

The Children of the New Forest is set just after the civil war, about 4 noble children whose father died fighting for Charles I, and have to fend for themselves hiding in the woods with the support of some loyal retainers. Naturally it all turns out ok in the end, but it's a good read for kids longing to escape adult controls and society. Although obviously sympathetic to the royalist cause, it's not as laughably one-sided as the Scarlet Pimpernel at least.

Being the uncultured slob that I am, the thought of the Scarlet Pimpernel conjures up the image of Sid James as the Black Fingernail in my mind, with Kenneth Williams in  hot pursuit. Fred came home from school the other day full of enthusiasm for a poem Mrs Sinhal had read - The Jabberwocky. He seemed stunned that I knew it, and as he enjoyed it so much I had him listen to Rambling Sid Rumpo's 'The Ballad of the Woggler's Moolie' which he found absolutely hilarious, something he has in common with his Grandad (and his Dad, for that matter). I've downloaded the album now and he barks with laughter in the car. I'm hoping a lot of it will go over his head for a few more years at least. ..