Author: Emily Roberts

This week we looked at classic adventure books for young readers, as recommended by now-grown people who look fondly on them.

The nineteenth century ‘Great Game’ of espionage is recalled in Kim, which is still popular after more than a hundred years.

Several female readers suggested   Nancy Drew: she’s been a role model since 1930, and the pigtailed Swedish strong-girl Pippi Longstocking was also highly recommended by several people

The Other Side Of The Mountain  is a stirring tale of a boy who runs away from city life to live in an old cabin in the Catskills. And finally, for a recent ‘old school’ adventure – a very funny adventure, we suggested Howard Whitehouse’s The Strictest School in the World from Kids Can Press.

There were many other suggestions for classic children’s adventures. Arthur Ransome’s  Swallows and Amazons was mentioned more than once. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Kidnapped had fans. Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical fiction was suggested. Chances are, if you ask any adult reader what they liked as a kid, they’ll have some titles for you!

Nominated by sixteen year old Susan Z, Howard Whitehouse’s The Strictest School in the World  is a Victorian science-fantasy  novel. It’s not old – 2006 – but it’s written in a tradition of brave youngsters (Emmaline, the fourteen year old pioneer of aviation and Rubberbones, her ‘indesruckible’ test pilot). When Emmaline is sent to St. Grimelda’s, a savagely cruel school for girls, she works to escape as her outside friends attempt to help. A prison break novel about an 1890s boarding school, this hilarious romp is the first in a series known as the ‘Madcap Misadventures’.

The Kids Can Press.website offers a chance to read a sample chapter and to look at the other two books in the series.

Jean Craighead George’s 1960 Newberry Medal winner was recommended by several people, including Nancy N and librarian Veronica R.  It’s the story of Sam, aNew York Cityboy who, hating life in a cramped apartment, takes off for theCatskill Mountainsand a survivalist existence in a cabin in the woods.

Those who like this book like it a lot; one Goodreads contributor writes, “I absolutely fell in love with this book. Head over heels. I bought my own copy because I couldn’t stand that the rest of the class was reading it SO SLOWLY, and for years afterward I re-read that book until the spine broke and pages went missing.”

Barnes and Noble offers a copy.

Written by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, the first Pippi Longstocking book was initially turned down in 1944 in one of those ‘worst decisions’ moments by an eminent Stockholm publisher. Since that time Pippi has been featured in eleven books translated into sixty four languages, television shows inGermanyand theUSand – remarkably – both US and Soviet-made movies.

Pippi is nine, immensely strong, and has a wonderful time making adults appear stupid.

“When she’s not dancing with the burglars who were just trying to rob her house, she’s attempting to learn the “pluttification” tables at school; fighting Adolf, the strongest man in the world at the circus; or playing tag with police officers. Pippi’s high-spirited, good-natured hijinks cause as much trouble as fun, but a more generous child you won’t find anywhere.”

Amazon offers a paperback edition in the Puffin Modern Classics series.

Collected in the late sixties and early seventies, these stories of a smart, resourceful girl detective who not only didn’t need to be rescued, but often came to help her hapless boyfriend. “Attractive, titian-haired”Nancyis older than her audience (that’s a general rule – kids like to read about someone a bit older than themselves, never younger) and drives a convertible.

First appearing in 1930, fifty-six Nancy Drew novels were produced, written by several writers under the pen-name of Carolyn Keene.

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim is a boy-and-old-man tale of loyalty and courage set inIndia during the British Raj. Kim is an orphan boy, assumed to be Indian but actually the son of an Irish soldier, who runs through city streets working as a messenger for the secret service. That’s right – a boy secret agent! But between stealing documents from Russian agents, Kim accompanies a wise old Tibetan lama along the Grand Trunk Road, learning wisdom and spiritual truth from the elderly monk. A classic that retains all its excitement!

Audiobooks Now has a copy you can listen to.

This week we’ll look at children’s books in the classic style, where adventurous youngsters take on the world in a healthy, outdoorsy, risk-of something-terrible-happening sort of way. These aren’t the Beatrix Potter type of story, where apparently naughty children who disobey their wise parents run into trouble and have to be rescued. No, these are kids who are very much in charge of their own destiny. Adults are often at the edge of the picture, either oblivious to what’s going on, or – quite often – the cause of all the peril. At best, adults are needed to do things that kids can’t do themselves, like drive cars or arrest villains.

After all, the most popular children’s books of our lifetime feature deliberately old-fashioned elements; Harry Potter goes to a boarding school, plays team sports, and fights an evil that most of the world is completely unaware of. Kids love danger – that’s why Conn and Hal Iggulden’s Dangerous Book For Boys was so successful. They love the sense of excitement that comes from challenging themselves, and pushing beyond the PlayStation culture. Encouraging them to read stories with these elements stimulates their imagination and gets them thinking about doing more active, adventurous things.

I decided to ask a broad selection of people – mostly writers and librarians, but all sorts of book-loving folk – for their nominations. Quite a lot of great books were suggested that don’t quite meet the criteria, either because they featured non-humans as their protagonists (is Paddington a hero? How about Curious George?). Others – like the sci-fi classic “Ender’s Game” aren’t really old school enough.

Stay with us this week for a mixture of old-school classics and some newer titles.