BBRecensioni

Darling little adventure story about three little gnomes going on an odessey to find one of their lost friends. Absorbing.

Three brothers, looked after by their maiden aunt during the school holidays, while their parents are in Burma defending the British Empire, decide to escape to the woods (the Chase, a Duke's lands) and live as outlaws rather than spending the autumn term in boarding school. They make their home in an ancient hollow oak tree, survive by hunting and fishing, and outwit the bumbling policeman Bunting and their tutor, the vicar, known as The Whiting. They also become friends of the old charcoal burner who lives alone (with his dog, hens and pigs) in the forest - Smokoe Joe - who teaches them as much as he can about forest lore, trapping, etc.
I particularly appreciated BB's knowledge of nature, and especially Smokoe's lesson about the trees, how they are like people, breathing, talking, communicating - very close to what is explained in many modern books about trees.

An adventure story for boys, who will probably find it very dated, but it entertained this old lady, too, despite all the killings of animals - though only for food and clothing..

The gnomes' peaceful existence beside the Folly Stream is shattered when humans divert the flow. In search of a new home, they set off downstream on the river, with their hearts set on reaching an island over the sea - Ireland.
Catastrophe follows catastrophe, many of them of their own making, though the god Pan keeps a watchful eye over them as they make friends among the other country folk - and some enemies, with a surprising change in character among their own brotherhood.

I had a Folio Society edition but gave it away because Slightly Foxed published the sequel and another BB book.
I just re-read The Little Grey Men and enjoyed exploring the banks and waters of the Folly stream with Sneezewort, Baldmoney and later the one-legged Dodder who set off to search for their brother Cloudberry who went walkabout a year earlier. We meet the forest friends, Squirrel, owls, rabbits, kingfisher and other birds, including the stuck-up pheasants and woodland enemies such as the stoat and fox, and an ogre in the form of a gamekeeper. I'm a bit sad about the fox because I am fond of foxes and not of fox-hunting. There is enjoyment of Nature, the trees, plants and flowers, a visit from Pan, a lot of kindness and some cruelty and sadness, but such is life. The gnomes are affable and resourceful little fellows and I can imagine them living among the roots of one of the trees along the stream that runs past the end of my road. Just one thing puzzled me, the miraculous appearance of a frying pan after everything had been lost in a storm.
Now looking forward to reading the others.

Bill Badger is out on another adventure, this time he and Izzybizzy are out selling Christmas
trees for those poor animals who have no money. then danger arrives...will Izzybizzy and
bill manage this time?

Bill Badger started as a normal stay-at-home animal. One autumn, Bill met with a Blind
Beggar Rat. (who was not really blind) and that rat told his fortune.Was that blind rat
telling the truth? Bill Badger takes an exciting Adventure to find out.

This was one of the books that Meher Baba and the women mandali enjoyed. In 1942 The Little Grey Men won the Carnegie Medal.

Not as whimsical as other older children's fantasies that I enjoy, and also quite dark in some spots.

[This is a review I wrote in 2007]

**Wonderful classic story for all ages!**

Meet the last four gnomes in the British Isles: they are Baldmoney, Dodder (with his wooden leg), Sneezewort and finally Cloudberry.

These gnomes are very old indeed, and have lived for some centuries already. They are the last survivors of the "Little People", excepting rumours of some distant relatives in Ireland!

These four gnomes live by the side of stream in the heart of Warwickshire countryside, with friends such as Ben the Owl, Squirrel, Otter, Kingfisher and others. They live day-to-day by fishing minnow from the stream, and gathering seasonal produce from the wood around them.

"The Little Grey Men" begins with just 3 of the gnomes, Dodder, Baldmoney and Sneezewort. Their brother, Cloudberry has been away from home for over a year. When they last saw him he had decided to set off on an adventure to find the source of the Folly, or stream, and he hasn't been since. The gnomes decide it's time to find their brother, Cloudberry, and so they set off on an adventure...

This is such a delightful story. I wish I'd discovered it as a child, because I know I would have LOVED it!

A delightful introduction of Victorian technology to the Wood: steam trains into myth. The author’s love of railways is expressed by the way he has the cleverest gnome build a complex system including signal boxes (though there is only one engine) and a second trestle bridge even when it would be simpler to lay the track around the pond, for the fun of it.

Danger lurks: the gnomes’ arcadian existence is continuously threatened by the leprechauns. The story unfolds excitingly.

Three brothers, staying with their aunt over school holidays, get fed up with her strict rules and decide to run away to the eponymous woods. With the help of an old hermit also living in Brendon Chase, they manage spectacularly well and stay on for several months.
Think My Side of the Mountain (the boys' part of the story) meets the country-living characters in Jeeves & Wooster (as an example, there's a particularly funny scene in which the local constable goes for a swim and the boys hide his clothing in the vicar's car while the vicar, all unwitting, chases butterflies with his net).

I started read The Little Grey Men when I was 10 or 11. I liked it very much but, for some forgotten reason, had to return it to the library before I finished it. It must have stuck in my mind though, because when I saw a reference to it the other week, I remembered it and decided to get it out and try again, this time from a library on the far side of the continent. Here's what I found.

It's glorious writing, beyond writing really, more of a window into a lost world, lost to me anyway -- how it would be to live in a hollow of an oak tree on the side of a creek in a woodland of the English Midlands in a long ago pre-suburbanized countryside.

He doesn't really give a child reader a break with his vocabulary and sentence structure, you got to stay with it, kids. He's just trying to get his vision out and at the same time tell a ripping story.

BB has illustrated the book with his own woodcuts and they are Arthur Rackham masterful.

Oh yeah, storyline: after living on the side of Folly Brook for several thousand years, three gnomes decide to venture upstream to find their lost brother Cloudberry, and what happened to them on the way.

This is not your ordinary kid's adventure fantasy. More like a hymn to nature that happens to include great gnome characters having ripping adventures. Recommended.

A book all boys should read and all brothers should read and probably all girls should read so they know what might make boys tick. Reminded me off the lovely movie Beau Jest about three brothers joining the foreign legion to protect their mother.

Three brothers run away to the forest and live there for a season or two (if memory serves) whilst their father is away. The transition from reliance on everything they are used to ,to adapting to living in nature and using what is provided by the forest is organic and enjoyable to watch unfold. They hunt, make friends, hide out, explore, discover....it is a real journey for the boys despite them hiding in a giant forest the whole time.

Three and a half stars. Julie Andrews Edwards' favorite childhood book. Gnomes on a journey. A good page turner.

Even more delightful on my second reading. I'm sorry I missed my book group which discussed this title. I know that others loved it as well. Might have to look for the next in the series.

Very good boys adventure. Three boys run away and live in the woods.

This is probably the greatest fishing book ever written.

A re-read for me. Seems to have dated more than I remember in 1985. An interesting romp involving, early twentieth century upper middle class school boys running off & living an outlaws life in a chase in the country. This documents their adventures, hunting, and their fine love for the country side. At times, captivating, but also at times, has passages of little dynamism. The author clearly loves the British countryside, and this clearly shines through the prose. Good for reading one time, but not repeatedly. Only really for children of school age. Also dreadfully politically incorrect.

A superb sequel to the equally enchanting Little Grey Men. Very captivating, gripping & great for readers of all ages. Highly recommended.

A brilliant, enchanting tale of a bygone age, in England, told by a true lover of natural history & folklore. Very evocative, and great writing. You really do want to know what is going to happen next. A great book to read aloud to younger children & a brilliant keepsake for older children. Read it & feel the magic

A near perfect tale of the quest by three of the last four gnomes in Britain to find their lost friend in the Warwickshire countryside. Watkins-Pitchford paid particular attention to the seasonal changes to the wildlife as he follows the gnomes through a full year of hunting.

Picked up at a BookCrossing meet-up. I remember enjoying this book a lot when I was younger. When I flicked through it at the meet-up and saw the picture of the cowzie, I couldn't resist taking it home with me for a re-read.

Really - it was most annoying. Nearly all these recipes demanded Dragon's Blood. Perhaps that was why so many of his spells were so ineffective - one just couldn't get the stuff these days. One had to make shift with newts, frogs, efts, toads, bats, and snakes.

A goose girl and an incompetent and unpleasant wizard get lost in the forest, and gnome miners disturb something that has been asleep under the ground for hundreds of years.

When I picked up this book, I thought I had misremembered the title, since I could have sworn that it was called "The Forest of Boland", and wasn't there something about trains too? When I started reading it I realised that this book was actually a sequel to the one I had read, which was called "The Forest of Boland Light Railway". And now that I've finished, I'm not sure whether I've read it before or not.½

Such a wonderful book. So much beauty, sorrow and fragility tied up in one. Some of his descriptive passages are the most beautiful I have ever read. Has a great evocation of adventure but also genuine care and appreciation of the natural world. The characters are also vividly drawn. Such a pleasure to read.

This novel is one of the all-time great river novels - 'Heart of Darkness' with little folk. A quest for their long-lost brother, Cloudberry, leads Dodder and his brothers on a journey of great bravery and excitement. Cloudberry travelled upstream years before to find the source of the Folly and never returned.

This is the first of what I am sure are going to be many indulgent purchases in the name of furnishing a library for my daughter - patently they're for me but I won't tell anyone if you don't. I read this a long, long time ago when my parents allowed me to borrow it from their shop as long as I read it without marking it so it could still be sold! I remember that first read, as a child of nine or ten, as captivating - I was loathed to return it but we didn't have enough spare money for me to keep it, so when I noticed The Folio Society were releasing an edition I was compelled to buy it.

This is a true children's classic. From the outset, B.B.'s familiarity and knowledge of the natural world is apparent - the book is steeped in nature. The fact that it is so evocative of the British countryside makes it believable. Anyone who has spent time poking about stream banks as a child or adult can imagine sitting very still and watching as the animals and gnomes come out of the cracks and crevices. The plausibility of these little folk appearing from the tree roots is what makes it so magical for children.

B.B.'s description of a cosy night by the fire in the oak home of the gnomes shows great skill in characterisation and creation of a world that comes alive in the pages. There is something melancholy about the atmosphere as they hunker down against the cold and wet. The reader is drawn quickly into this little world of the gnomes and the three brothers are so endearing that it is impossible not to be affected by the poignant departure of Baldmoney and Sneezewort. Adult and child alike will share in the horror of Crow Wood and the magic touches hearts of any age.

This book is evocative of a bygone age. The creatures he describes are often relics of the countryside of our grandfathers' time when the country was rich and replete with diverse and rare species that you see few of today. The language and writing is neither patronising nor childish. It's a delightful tale and one that is educational with B.B.'s descriptions of the natural world. For children, it is a source of inspiration, feeding their imagination and acting as a starting point for the development of a relationship of true love and affection for the countryside and creatures around us. It is as if the countryside is a character in itself.

I don't usually comment on editions but it would be remiss to finish this review without giving The Folio Society credit for the beautifully produced edition they have released. It certainly added to my enjoyment of the novel. It's wonderfully illustrated with D.J. Watkins-Pitchford's black and white woodcuts and beautifully complementary colour plates. In combination with the magical story, this makes this a wonderful 'read aloud' book for younger children and a treasure for older children to cherish.½

Sub-titled 'The Story of a Pytchley Fox',this book tells the story of Rufus the fox,by Rufus the fox.How Watkins-Pitchford ("BB")ever managed to get inside the head of a fox and think as he would think,I will never know.But he has,and had left us with one of the finest English animal stories of all times.Wonderfully illustrated with his own work too.

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