Stig of the Dump: 60th Anniversary Edition (A Puffin Book)

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Imagine that you are a policeman interviewing Barney about the robbery. What questions would you ask? How would he respond?

The social commentary is very entertaining. Barney is clearly a bit of a posh boy, from an upper middle class family. There's a fox hunt, which he's too young to join, but he decides to go unofficially with Stig. Things don't go to plan when Stig kills a pheasant, but refuses to kill a fox when he has the chance. Barney is worried because killing pheasants isn't very sporting, but Stig communicates to him that foxes don't taste good, whereas pheasants do. And of course Stig's logic makes more sense - he kills for food, not for sport. Although stone-sage Stig is a wonderful creation, the real draw for me was Barney. I found him completely endearing, innocent (trusting the robbers!), explorative, creative, funny and kind. He was a boy who could recall his grandfather's words of wisdom 'My Grandfather always says wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and once when you burn it.' and, when threatened and brought close to tears by the Snarget brothers, would look to his Granny for love and support: a sensitive boy who wonders and questions the world he inhabits. Who wouldn't want a Barney in their life? Hamid of Aleppo; The Town that Went South; The 22 Letters; The Night the Water Came; Snakes and Snakes; Me and My Million; The Inner Ring series; The Devil's Cut; Ninny's Boat; The Sound of propellors; The Seashore People; A Touch of Class Read more Details Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) illustrated over 200 books and was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for Tim All Alone. He was awarded the CBE in 1971. Clive King’s ‘Stig of the dump’ is about a boy called Barney who befriends a caveman called ‘Stig’ who lives in a quarry. Barney finds Stig by accidently falling into the quarry and through the roof of Stig’s den. From this point onwards they become good friends.One for imagination building, for children interested in cavemen/Stone Age topics, for gentle exposure to slightly older texts with an engaging central pairing and quite an exciting/varied plot. David Clive King was born in Richmond, Surrey, England in 1924 but spent most of his childhood in Ash, a small village some 30 miles from London on the Kentish North Downs, where he and his three brothers used to play in a disused chalk pit. He was a boarder at King's School, Rochester at a time when every boy expected to be called up for the armed services in World War Two, and he opted for the Navy. This gave him seagoing experience that took him to the Arctic, Australia and Asia.

Stig's role in the story is a fascinating one. Barney does not rely on him at all times and it is interesting that he only visits his friend when he's over at his grandparents. It is only when Barney is bored, in danger and wanting to roleplay that he calls upon his friend. There is more to this, I think.The book takes the form of a text based novel rather than a picture book, although there are several illustrative sketches at the beginning of each chapter and scattered throughout the text. This combined with the presence of the odd phonetically irregular word I would view Stig of the Dump as most suited to the later stages of Key Stage Two for the independent reader, however the story is certainly exciting enough that younger children would enjoy it being read to them.