11. Black Star, Bright Dawn

By Scott O'Dell

14. The Starlight Barking

By Dodie Smith

7. The One Hundred and One Dalmatians

By Dodie Smith

One Hundred and One Dalmatians has been my fave Disney animation for as long as I can remember. Some years ago, I re-watched it with my daughter and she really loved it.   

 

The opening credits had also reminded me that the movie was based on a book by Dodie Smith. I had read the I Capture the Castle, which has been a personal favourite, so I just had to have my own copy of The One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  Not long after, I ordered a new hardbound edition anticipating that my daughter may enjoy that too when she’s able to read.  It’s been sitting in her bookshelf for a few years and just recently, her 10 yo self had picked up the book to read on her own volition!

 

It also made me realize I hadn't yet read the book myself. So as soon as my daughter finished, I started reading it.  I wasn't disappointed -- it was just absolutely charming and delightful.  Even though I only got to the part where Pongo and Missus were making their arduous journey to Suffolk, I asked the kid if she'd like to watch the movie again. She agreed, wanting to watch it that very evening, and so we did (I, ahem, still had the file in the storage drive). It'd been at least a few years, so she didn't remember much of it, so for her  it was like watching it a new again!

 

Watching the film again for the umpteenth time has not lessened my love for it.  I can also better appreciate the wonderful job the Disney folks did by adapting the source material for their animated film.  I also learned some interesting things: 

 

·       Dodie Smith was a consultant for the film, and her story was based on how her own dalmatians had 15 puppies!

·       When she was writing the book, she had actually hoped that Disney would turn it into a film!

·       I didn't realize that 'Sleeping Beauty' was a flop when it came out, which left the studio with a tight budget for 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians', but I think (with the help of Xerox technology) it had worked to their advantage.

·       Not only was the animation gorgeous, but equal attention was paid to the writing, characterization, voice work, music and the inspired idea of basing Cruella de Vil’s looks on actress Tallulah Bankhead!

 

I also loved how Disney kept the 'What's My Crime?' television show from the book, but adding the klever Kanine Krunchies commercial.  It also made sense that the two 'nannies' became one character, and the two female dalmatians, Missus and Perdita, were also merged as one.

 

Some trifling details I noticed now that I'm older (and more cynical)... for instance, how in the movie, Mr Dearly, was a struggling musician with a stay-at-home wife, yet he could afford a townhouse (albeit a modest one) in central London and pay for a full-time housekeeper. In the book, Mr Dearly was a finance wizard who helped the government eradicate debt, and in doing so, was rewarded a nice house in a plum neighbourhood. However, it did make aesthetic sense for the movie to turn Mr Dearly into a musician so the film could have its catchy musical numbers!

 

Dodie Smith also wrote a lesser known sequel to The One Hundred and One Dalmatians – it’s called The Starlight Barking, and I’m determined to find a nice hardcover edition of that too!  However, it’s a little harder to find, and it’s looking like I may have to order a used copy from the UK…

4. The Animals of Farthing Wood

By Colin Dann 

The Animals of Farthing Wood is a classic 'animal journey' tale.  When the forest known as Farthing Wood is in danger of being destroyed by greedy developers, the animal inhabitants have no choice but to leave, but where?  

 

It’s clear from the get-go that author Colin Dann is an animal lover and conservationist.  As a reader, your heart breaks for the animals when the man-made machines arrive to raze their beloved forest.

All day the bulldozers crashed forward on their path of destruction. Shrubs, young trees and undergrowth fell before the cruel onslaught of the monsters’ greedy steel jaws. Old trees, stately and dignified with age, were mercilessly machined down by vicious saws. Yard by yard the forest fell back before the human despoilers; and, crouching in their burrows and tunnels, or huddled in the remaining tree-tops, or cowering under the bracken, the animals of Farthing Wood listened, shuddering, and longed for darkness.

 

Since it’s an animal story, Dann gives his main characters a dominant personality trait that befits a particular species, but over the course of their journey, a few of the key characters learn to overcome their individual flaws and work together for the good of the whole.

 

Toad is the one who discovered a nature reserve when he made his back home after he escaped from a kid’s jar and convinces the animals of Farthing Wood to make the long journey to White Deer Park.  Toad is kind and resilient, but he tires easily.  Badger is practical, gentle and respected by all the animals.  He’s the one who called upon all the animals to assemble inside his largest burrow, which he dug out for the occasion.  He chooses Fox to lead the motley group on their journey as he’s intelligent, courageous and a natural leader.  I think it’s also Badger who establishes a pact so that predator and prey will promise not to harm one another during their journey (they’ll hunt or gather food outside of their own party).

 

Tawny Owl and Kestrel serve as scouts as they fly ahead to pick the safest routes for the travelling group.  Although T-Owl is wise, he’s also quite pompous and tries to mask his fragile ego, which Adder sees through and is quick to poke fun of.  Adder starts off as the aloof and cynical outsider, as befits a deadly snake, but later ends up helping the animals when they’re in a tight spot.  However, my daughter will be sorely disappointed to find the rabbits are typecast as rather hysterical, timid creatures who at one point puts the group in grave danger.

 

As expected, the animals encounter many adventures and pitfalls as they make their way across various landscapes.  Their first danger was caused by a negligent human tossing a cigarette, and the animals end up being trapped inside some blazing woods.  Through quick teamwork, they’re able to help each other over to a small thicketed island in the middle of a large pond and hide while firefighters eventually put out the fire.

There are, of course, observations about humans from animals that are rather obvious, but can be overlooked in a children’s book.

    ‘All this damage and horror was caused by one foolish human,’ said Toad. ‘And all of it has to be put right by these others of his kind who had no hand in it.’

    ‘They’re certainly a strange species,’ agreed Badger. ‘I never pretended to understand them.' 

    As the animals watched the flames gradually diminishing under the efforts of the firefighters, many of them felt, for perhaps the first time, an unusual kinship with the humans who shared their desire to see the fire, their mutual enemy, quenched.  Yet this kindship, they each understood, was to be short-lived. For as soon as the fire was finally overcome, the very present of the humans at such close quarters posed a new problem for their freedom. As long as the mend remained on the other side of the causeway, the animals’ safest escape route was blocked.

Published in 1979, The Animals of Farthing Wood has strong pro-environmental messaging that’s hard to ignore. Even back then, it was critiquing the mass monoculture farming that has taken over the small, traditional farming methods of old. 

    Once again they found themselves surrounded by farmland—only this farmland was different from any they had seen before.  There were no hedgerows dividing the fields, no thatched farm cottages and no ancient lopsided barns.  Everything was conducted in this area in a far more calculated, professional manner. Vast expanses of cereals and root crops grew mathematically in unbordered squares, without a wild flower or grass showing its head, even in corners. All unnecessary plants had been totally cleared away, and the field ha a cold, clinical look about them which seemed unnatural.  The few trees that still existed were giants which had proved, in this cost-obsessed world, too expensive to move, and so they remained.

   … Animals—farm animals, that is—could be heard cackling or grunting to each other, but they were never seen.  It seemed they had all been shut away in the long, low concrete and steel outbuildings that were prevalent.  In the over-heated interiors they were probably quite unaware of the existence of lush green grass spread with buttercups, or blue sky, or the fresh feeling of a shower of rain. 

It doesn’t end there.  It’s not just “soulless farmland” the wild animals found themselves in, but something more sinister, even apocalyptic.  It was a land of death, despite being surrounded by so many crops.  Tired and hungry, they were tempted to eat some vegetables, but Kestrel and Tawny Owl soon figured out that the farm was full of poisonous chemicals.  Even the nearby orchard was littered with the bodies of bullfinches and blackbirds. In another field, they encountered more bodies, even earthworms and bees were impacted.  The animals discuss among themselves the contradiction inherent in humans -- if they are so clever, why would they consume the foods that are themselves full of poison?  I wouldn’t be surprised if Dann was influenced by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

 

Yes, there was some loss and a lot of hardship in their adventurous journey, and thankfully there was a happy ending.  Most of the animals who left Farthing Wood made it to their destination and were welcomed by the inhabitants of White Deer Park.  And naturally, the only kind of human worth revering is the nature-loving scientist.

   ‘My friends,’ [Toad] said in an awestruck tone, ‘that is a Naturalist.’     

    …’Strange to say, there are some humans who are interested in the welfare of wild creatures,’ the heron explained.

   ‘It’s these very people we have to thank for White Deer Park,’ Toad pointed out eagerly. ‘It is they who are responsible for the creation of those havens for wildlife they call Nature Reserves.’    

   ‘It’s only when you learn of such kindness and interest in us creatures,’ said Badger, ‘that you recall that the human race is, after all, a brother species.’        

The Animals of Farthing Wood was an enjoyable book, but I wouldn’t put it in the same category as, say, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, which was much more subtle and effective in its messaging AND a fun read.  I’m glad Olman found this book, and that there’s an entire series as well as a TV adaption.  And I think our kid is at the right age to appreciate this book.                                                                 

2. Swallows and Amazons

By Arthur Ransome                        

Oh dear, it’s March and this is only the second book I’ve finished.  I’m way behind!

The thing with classic children’s literature is that you can escape into a world of innocence.  Of course, as an educated adult in the 21st c, I know this innocence to be an illusion based on Western-Eurocentric privilege, but nevertheless, I was charmed by this tale of childhood adventure.  Everything is grounded in reality, but the children’s world-building of exploring, pirating, alliance-forging and treasure hunting makes a delightful read.

The story is set in the Lake District, a mountainous region in northwest England, during the summer of 1929.  This was just before the stock market crash that set off the Great Depression and then World War 2.  So a poignantly idyllic period.  The Walker children want to plan an expedition to a small island in the lake and have just been granted permission from their absent father, who’s serving overseas in the Navy, which is relayed via telegram by their mother.

There is much excitement and planning as they prepare their equipment and food.  It’s interesting to read how English folk in the 1920’s prepped for a camping trip without any nylon, velcro or plastic.  The mother actually made the tents, groundsheets and hay bags, basically sacks stuffed with hay. 

The tents were of the simplest kind. Each tent had a three-cornered piece for the back. The back was sewn to the sides, and a piece of stout rope was stitched to the canvas inside to make the ridge of the roof. The ends of this rope were fastened to two trees, and so held the tent up. No tent poles were needed. Along the bottom edges of the back and sides there were big pockets, to be filled with stones. On rocky ground, where you cannot drive in tent pegs, this is a good plan. At the front of the tent there were loose flaps, joined to the sides, so that they could be rolled up and tied out of the way with two pairs of tapes that worked like the reef points in a sail.

What’s great was that the children a far from being duffers, they were very capable of handling Swallow, their small sailing boat, building fires, setting up camp and making meals, even boiling water for tea.   The kids packed their boat with all the smaller items that they’d need, but the mother came in another boat with their bedding of hay.  The setting off for the island was great.  Another cool factor was the children’s use of sailing terminology.  Even though it’s a freshwater lake:

But with a lake as big as a small sea, a fourteen-foot dinghy with a brown sail waiting in the boathouse, and the little wooded island waiting for explorers, nothing but a sailing voyage of discovery seemed worth thinking about.

And the children were organized as a crew with John as captain, Susan as first mate, Titty as able seaman (oh, the innocence) and the youngest, Roger, as ship’s boy. 

With the next tack John took the Swallow further out into the lake and went about for the last time when he was well clear of the northern end of the island. He sailed past it and as soon as he was clear of all its rocks, he called:

“Jibe O!”

Mate Susan hauled in the sheet as fast as she could. John put the helm up. Swallow turned south once more, the boom swung over their heads, Susan paying out the sheet as soon as it had passed over, and they were once more sailing down the inside, eastern shore. Just before they were opposite the little bay with the pebbly beach, John called out:

“Stand by to take in sail. Lower away!”

Mate Susan was all ready with the halyard in her hand. She slackened the halyard without letting go of it. Down came the sail.

“Grab the gaff, Roger!” and Roger grabbed it.

It was almost like a Patrick O’Brian novel with John as a young Captain Aubrey! 

The world between the children and adults was clearly drawn.  Everyone outside of Wild Cat Island who lived in houses and amongst each other in villages were ‘natives’.  When the Swallows meet the Amazons (Nancy and Peggy Blackett), they’re both integrated into each other’s worlds.  The exceptions were Mary Walker, the mother, and Nancy & Peggy’s uncle, “Captain Flint”.

These natives! Friendly though they were, there was never any knowing what mischief they might do. It was just that thought that had made John jump up in such a hurry when he saw the time. If Mr. Dixon had gone along to Holly Howe to ask what had happened, and whether the milk was wanted, mother would have been bound to think that something had gone wrong. And nothing had gone wrong at all. Everything had gone right. John knew well enough that mother counted on the regular morning visit to Dixon’s farm for the milk to keep her in touch with the Swallows. Mother knew that the Dixons would let her know at once if no one had come up from the island with the milk-can.

Natives were like that, useful in a way, but sometimes a bother. They all held together, a huge network of gossip and scouting, through the meshes of which it was difficult for explorers and pirates to slip.

I wonder how the rest of the series plays out during WWII.  Does the father remain absent because he’s called to join the war effort?  We shall have to see.

---

I watched both film adaptations of Swallows and Amazons.  The 2016 version was a bit disappointing – it looked good, but they beefed up the villain subplot, an unnecessary and obvious ploy to make the plot more exciting.  Worse, the Walker children were not as wilderness savvy, more whiny and less capable.  The 1974 version was a much more faithful adaptation.