Cliffhanger with Buried Alive

It can be difficult to find something that's more a boys adventure today that avoids either taking a hipper than thou chasing of topics or gets to much into Sci-Fi and Gaming but in what is an a series of adventures written from the male characters perspective, Jacqueline Wilson gets close.

This series thoughtfully combined in a 'biscuit barrel'  two in on edition is centred on the adventures of two boys, Tim and Biscuit who are going on an adventure holiday away on their own. rather like the sort PGL do 
Tim is seen by his father who is rather old-fashioned when it comes to what he think sons should be like, as being  more of a 'mommy's boy' lacking athletic prowess and fearful of challenges. He seems to have dyspraxia and being un-cordinated isn't much good at sport.
Biscuit lives up to his nick name of eating anything in sight, forever feeling hungry so he is potential more able at sport, he lacks stamina for his largess and comes over as lacking in social awareness.
The first book looks more at the holiday itself, Tim's issues with over confident and lacking in tact Giles, how he forms a relationship with Kelly who while being very sporty does appear to more understanding of his concerns. Tim seems to grow eventually in confidence.
Buried alive is the story of Tim's family taking a holiday where, graciously they have decided to take Biscuit with them and is the tale of two boys finding out more about each other, learning to deal with bullies and the importance of friendship.
They quite by accident encounter Kelly and her family in a caravan and so they spend time together so while the children get on it is clear the adults have difference about what matters most to their children.
It also shows the embarrassment of having parents who are so uncool.
I feel it's a good 8 1/2 upwards reading age read with a lively leaping off the page style of writing well illustrated.

Summer Holiday specials part 2

As a few of you might just be aware I'm off for a few days with friends so won't be around on a few sites and that.

One thing I'll have with me though in time honoured tradition will be some reading material of the sort associated childhood holidays that I did talk about a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately this is 2018, not 2008 or even 1978 so rather than calling in my local newsagent who'd also stock cherryaid to go with the dandelion and burdock, I had to order them online to be delivered to the door.

The Beano is published weekly and thankfully back now in print after a digital only spell and so has new strips all of which have been themed on a Summer Holiday in Beanotown so we have such all time favourites as Minnie The Minx, Dennis the Menace (although like a few characters he's been toned down and redrawn since my childhood), Roger the Dodger, Ball Boy and the Bash Street Kids  in addition to newer series like Bananaman and Rubi JJ Pie Face.

This clearly while tapping into the retro market is mainly for today's boys and girls in their childhood world which while similar to ours needless to say has more celebrity and technology in than ours. 

One difference between the two is the Dandy as a comic no longer in weekly production, is more a retro summer special with reprints from previous ones from the 60's, 70's and 80's rather having a few new token cartoon strips drawn so it acts more as a compilation of past issues and in some ways pulls me more into that ten year old boy I was then reading Korky the Kat and Beryl the Peril and life in that era.

It's like stepping into the past and reading the same cartoon strips as is.

In general the printing quality was better than those I recall during the 1970's being not just more colourful but sharper

Jennings Goes To School

I wrote a short while ago about some of the books I read as a child and upon re-reading  almost by magic my mind starts slipping back to what this time in the past meant for me.

Part of it meant getting ones equipment and uniform ready for a school day with a  mad dash to the stores at the weekend at home if anything needed replacing and this leads really on to this which I do so miss all of that and one of things I did was read books.
Anthony Buckerridge's creation Jennings and his side kick, Darbishire was the main boys own series I read as to a very large extent however what I liked about the series was they did feature memorable characters in situations I could easily relate to as that school boy.
This was the first published story although Jennings was introduced in nineteen forty-eight  on the BBC Children's Hour program, garnering a following.

In the first story we are introduced to the two new boys of Linbury Court School for boys, Jennings and Darbishire, their initial meeting with Mr. Carter just seeing a very average boy in his suit and short pants but it is not long before her realizes his well meant but impetuous nature coupled with an overdeveloped sense of initiative soon leads trouble dispite his more erudite mild mannered companion  attempts at moderating him as they both start to learn the ropes  in their first term.
My copy is a nineteen sixty-two Collins hardback where I'm sure the one I had at school would of been  from the mid seventies edition

Reflections on Alan Longmuir and the Bay City Rollers

There's a bit of an unwritten rule on this blog which is to say it's not themed by things such as sport, anime or for that matter music even if they were a part of my boyhood or feature in someway in my more adult little boy/adult schoolboy present.
Part of this is to avoid week after week on entries around just one topic so the blog reflects more the whole but allows them to shine within that.

There is no getting around the fact the Bay City Rollers were a part of my boyhood even if having the level of interest in them was very much atypical of any boy of that era being something that I shared more with girls from late juniors into the first few years at high school where I did introduce this when I was asked to give a short introduction to my First Form class upon joining.
That introduction smoothed my integration into their number gaining me a good number of female friends  and critically of my best buddy Andy to whom you know I miss so much who also liked them AND was a boy.
We'd talk about them, sharing the weekly glossy fan magazines, annuals and gather around our tape recorders singing along to Remember, Give a Little Love and Love Me Like I Love You. We also watched Shang-a-Lang, the tv show featured them, other upcoming artist and had features on hobbies and interests, one being cars that interested me.
We all had our favourites within the group, Woody being mine, and like most of group we had tartan everything.
On Monday July 2nd It was announced at 6 AM Alan Longmuir, the bass player who left in early 1976, who is pictured in the middle died after three weeks of being ill following a visit to Mexico.
He joined to form a four original member reunion concert at Edinburgh Castle for Hogmanay 1999 and was due to perform with Les McKweon later this year.
Alan and the band were a important part of my boyhood, the backdrop to much that happened so this entry is a tribute to him and what he meant to me and my friends back then.
Next week we'll be talking literature....