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

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The success of Stig has overshadowed King's 16 other novels for children, including The 22 Letters, an ambitious historical adventure about three brothers who devise an early alphabet, and Ninny's Boat, a prescient historical drama set in an era when the English are the newest illegal immigrants. This latter book was inspired by King's experience of Vietnamese boat people while working in Pakistan and was set in his adopted home of East Anglia. King feels that The 22 Letters"deserved more promotion and didn't get it" and also slightly regrets the way he has been received. "In my day, they didn't take children's writers seriously. They didn't really review them, they just retold the story." But he turns schoolmasterly-stern when I ask which of his novels is his favourite. "Do you have brothers and sisters? It's like asking your parents which is their favourite child. We don't have favourites." Recall’s a funny thing at the best of times and mine’s gotten seriously worse since I had my stroke. There were parts of this book I was reciting word-for-word along with the audiobook and there were other parts I didn’t remember at all. Part of the joy of rereading, I suppose. Stig of the Dump tells the story of a boy who discovers a cave man living in a dump in the local chalk pits near his granny's house. The two become friends and enjoy lots of building and creating using the left over materials in the dump. Along the course of the story they build a chimney, see off some house robbers and help the zoo capture a leopard. The story ends with a magical experience where the children are transported to stone age Britain to witness the creation of Stone Henge by stone age peoples. We can never be truly sure if Stig is in Barney's imagination, his sister and Grandmother don't seem to believe him. It's fascinating to both watch how Stig lives and makes his own world, and how he and Barney interact and communicate.

Barney and Lou do not share their adventures with anyone, and their parents never realise the truth of Stig's existence, although they jokingly talk about him as a kind of magical being that can fix particularly "odd jobs". It is left unclear whether Barney sees much more of Stig, or even whether Stig stays in the rapidly-filling rubbish dump. A figure that resembles Stig is sighted working with junk in various locations around the area; but the book concludes that "perhaps it was only a relative of his", suggesting that Stig may not be the only caveman alive in the modern world. Choose one of the main events of the story and write a diary entry about it from Barney’s point of view. The recognition that every author craves, however, is simply being read, and King has always had that in abundance. He still receives fan mail posing questions that he has been asked for six decades – Is Stig real? Is the chalk pit real? Everyone from Hugh Bonneville to David Walliams has cited Stig of the Dump as an inspiration but it is not just a book beloved of boys of a certain vintage (for whom "Stig" was a schoolyard insult). Fiona Reynolds, former director general of the National Trust and a key player in the charity's campaign for a "natural childhood", is also a fan and many young readers still enjoy the book for its vivid dramatisation of that universal childhood experience – "believing in something that no one else believes in," as my 12-year-old niece puts it. I knew beforehand that this was a book about a boy who finds a caveman in a dump and they become friends - it's quite a well-known book. What I wasn't expecting was how creatively the author would use this whole concept. Stig has built himself a den and he uses the things people throw onto the dump. Barney is fascinated at how old junk can be used in completely different ways from how it was intended. Stig also doesn't talk, so Barney has to find ways to communicate with him. Meeting Stig causes Barney to start to think in new, creative ways - he wants to help Stig build a chimney and windows, for instance, and has to think of an unconventional way to do this. It's also a bit strange and amusing for him that Stig is so tough and strong on the one hand, but also so unfamiliar with everyday things on the other hand, so Barney starts to see things from a new perspective as he has to explain them (and without words) to Stig.And what really impressed me was Barney's reaction when no one believes him about Stig. There are lots of children's books about kids who find something magic and the adults don't believe them, and the children are indignant and they know without a doubt that they are right and the adults are wrong. But Barney - he starts to doubt himself. If adults are telling him it's his imagination, well maybe it is - maybe it's possible for an experience to be imagination. He really doesn't know - and I liked that aspect, because I fnd in reality children do doubt things if everyone else is convinced that they are mistaken, or that such thiings aren't possible. This was a return to a book I remembered fondly from my childhood (I remembered the book fondly; I couldn’t stand the tv adaptation) which is always risky. Another issue that Primary teachers will need to be aware of is the fact that the language in the book is not modern and may therefore present problems for younger readers.

King has witnessed the decline in wild play – and reading books – through his own seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. "They are quite proud of me, they say, a famous author. But I don't think my grandchildren or great-grandchildren read very many books. I don't feel sad. I think it's inevitable. Children these days like gadgets."Barney's adventures with his thought-to-be-imaginary friend, Stig are led by his inquisitiveness and wholly absorbing need to play: the idea of a child escaping to the local dump or wasteland alone now would cause many a raised eyebrow yet in my own youth the raised eyebrow would come to the child who did not do this. In Chapter 4 Barney and Stig go hunting. Have a class debate to discuss the ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments about hunting. Make a character profile to describe Barney and / or Stig. What is their personality like? What are their favourite things? What are their hopes and dreams? I think a huge difference coming to this as an adult rather than a child, is that I was fearful for Stig all along. My knowledge of the adult world meant that surely his time in the chalk pit was limited. I kept anticipating discovery and removal. Bear in mind that in Australia, Indigenous children were still stolen from families into the 1970s and this kind of knowledge overshadowed my enjoyment. Additionally I was madly curious about Stig. Who was he? What was his story? Children might accept him on face value, but I was uncomfortable until the midsummer resolution.

Stig of the Dump is a children's novel by Clive King which was first published in the United Kingdom in 1963. It is regarded as a modern children's classic and is often read in schools. [1] It was illustrated by Edward Ardizzone and has been twice adapted for television, in 1981 and in 2002. It was featured in a broadcast as an adaptation on BBC Home Service for schools in November 1964, and later on the BBC series Blue Peter.Barney and Stig use lots of different tools when they are building things. Make a safety poster to teach people how to use them carefully. Stig of the Dump is one of those modern classic stories that has remained prevalent in children's literature since it's first publication in 1963. I chose to read and review it as it's one of the more challenging books that managed to entice me at primary school.The book tells the story of eight year old Barney who stumbles across a solitary caveman called Stig in the dump at the bottom of his Grandmother's garden. Despite the barriers, both linguistic and cultural, that separate them, the two strike a friendship and embark on a series of exciting adventures, each of which both highlight and bridge the gaps between their vastly different worlds. All of the adventures take place in the modern world, with the exception of the final chapter when one night Barney and his sister Lou sneak out of their Grandmother's house and find themselves in Stig's prehistoric world. Together Barney, Lou, Stig and Dina the dog help Stig's tribe build a set of standing stones that Barney recognises as a weathered landmark from his own modern home, further cementing the links between their worlds that are built on in earlier chapters.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.The central theme of the book is a wonderful story of friendship and trust between Barney and Stig, despite the vast differences that separate them. As well as allowing children to identify with and engage with the story, the imaginative writing from a child's perspective also provides various outlets for them to develop their reading, writing and even numeracy skills. One example of this is that Barney often consciously counts items he's found in the dump, and the story also makes good use of adjectives to describe item's properties.Stig of the Dump is a story that teaches us that there is common ground and friendships to be found in the most unlikely of places, between people who at first glance couldn't be more different. It's a wonderful if slightly more challenging young children's book that I would certainly make use of in my classroom. This book is the story of a boy called Barney who finds a cave man living in a dump in the local chalk pits. Stig of the Dump as he is called, becomes Barney’s friend. After meeting Stig, Barney tells his grandmother and sister Lou about him but nobody believes him. Stig becomes a secret friend until he is also discovered by the Snarget boys. In this case, I found I still really enjoyed it, although it held a couple of surprises. I had completely forgotten it was set a few towns away from where I live, for starters, which isn’t something you’d think I’d forget but my memory is famously awful. (Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading at all, my recall is so bad, but then I remember it’s because I enjoy it at the time.)

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? Barney teaches Stig lots of new skills. Can you choose one of them and write a set of instructions to teach somebody else too? Write a play script about an argument between Barney and his sister Lou about it not being safe at the chalk pit.

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Stig of the Dump plays highly on the imaginative and includes a great deal of mystery with a slight bit of magic. This makes it an ideal choice to use within the classroom, as a number of activities can be constructed with this book. For example, the Teacher can use this in cross-curricular activities such as drawing and constructing their own den; what would they use? How would they make it? Such activities provide an opportunity for 3 dimensional thinking associated with geography and testing their creativity skills. They could then be asked to describe their reasoning behind how they created their dens. Furthermore, this book could also be used with regards to raising ecological awareness, getting the students thinking about the things that are thrown away and hearing their views on waste. 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. There is a lot of wonderful risk taking in the story which will appeal to most adventurous children. The book opens with the main character falling off the edge of the chalk pit even though he has been warned repeatedly about this possibility and he is fine. The book encourages children to explore and take delight in their ability to learn about the world and create. It was lovely to relive the plot. And my son didn't have a problem following the story, the language wasn't so very different to any contemporary book. Barney is an 'everyboy', a bit of a loner, who discovers, when staying at his Grandma's, that the nearby chalk pit hides a surprising secret. A hidden den, a strange boy.... wearing rabbit fur, speaking his own language of grunts. A cave boy?