The Otterbury Incident (A Puffin Book)

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The Otterbury Incident (A Puffin Book)

The Otterbury Incident (A Puffin Book)

RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.995
£3.995 FREE Shipping

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The Otterbury Incident is an adventure novel written by Cecil Day Lewis, published in 1948. The book is based on the French film Nous les Gosses, which was shown in England as Us Kids. Later, to their collective delight, the final account reveals that the boys collected more than what was required to pay for the broken window. Deciding to sleep on the final decision, the money is entrusted to Ted, who keeps it in a wooden box somebody gave him The next morning? Disaster! The money's been stolen. The story now takes on a much stronger feel of a detective/crime-solving novel, as Ted's lieutenants are completely convinced of his innocence and seek a way to exonerate him, ideally by catching the real thief.

Some books were read over filmed inserts, and occasionally there were no pictures at all, such as in Denholm Elliott’s telling of Ted Hughes’s The Iron Man in 1972. When Dench read Philippa Pearce’s A Dog So Small in 1968, the studio was filled with dogs. The book is written in the first person of George, a subordinate "officer" in one of the "armies" of the war games. This is about a bunch of kids. They spend a lot of time doing kid stuff--pretending to fight wars, solving mysteries, looking for ways to raise money. And then they find themselves caught up in a more serious situation than they realized, and they rise to the challenge with teamwork and determination.The story, which is told in the first person by one of the boys, begins with ‘The Ambush in Abbey Lane’: The novel has been commended for its style, which is a parody of serious historical writing. One critic commented that "George [the narrator] very much styles himself the official war historian, writing up the history of 'The Otterbury Incident' in the high serious language of an epoch changing event. It is the delightful first person voice of George that gives the novel its humour and charm. Sometimes poor George – who is a just a little bit on the geeky side – takes his writing responsibilities more seriously than the combatants." [2] The Otterbury Incident is a drily humorous tale of a group of schoolchildren in a small English town who must deal with some rather unsavory characters on their own, despite all the adults hurrying about. C. Day Lewis, a professor of poetry at Oxford, has a deft, understated way with words. He's a standout writer and I'm determined to read his other stories, if he has any.

The saving grace is the fact that The Otterbury Incident takes itself so seriously. This isn't an adult writing an oh-so-cute story about kids. This is a kid writing a life-or-death narrative about himself and his friends, and the illusion holds all the way to the very end. There's plenty of adventure and very colorful characters, who speak with individual voices and seem to have a life of their own outside the story. I apologize for giving so much of the plot away, but it was such fun to write about. The Otterbury Incident combines all the elements that make for an exciting boys story; war games, crime-solving, camaraderie, and a good deal of dangerous climbing and breaking and entering. While written for young boys, there is absolutely no reason why an adolescent, (or even an adult, for that matter), of either sex shouldn't enjoy it just as much. It's a classic in its own right, and has the significant advantage of realism, and while a J.K. Rowling and a Garth Nix might come along every generation or so, most quality contemporary children's fiction tends to be either magical or uncanny in one way or another. The Otterbury Incident, however, barely tests the limits of your credulity. The events that transpire could quite conceivably take place. The adventures the boys have, while obviously exhilarating and dangerous, could happen to any group of kids in the right place at the right time. The Chief Inspector later confirms to George that often the best informants for crimes like breaking and entering with the intention of deliberate property deprivation, (theft is probably a better way to put it) are sharp-eyed youngsters out on the streets at all times; washing dishes, delivering newspapers, carrying loads, and hawking merchandise. Essentially doing the kind of things Ted and Toppy and the others dreamed up for the N.Y.A.F. On 19 September 1947, Cecil and Mary Day-Lewis took their son Nicholas to Sherborne School for his first day at Harper House, almost thirty years to the day since Cecil’s own father had taken him in September 1917 to Harper House. Cecil’s re-engagement with Sherborne put him in nostalgic mood, reflecting on his own time at the School (1917-1923), which resulted in a collection of poems published in 1948 under the title Poems 1943-1947 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1948). Unfortunately marred by some casual anti-semitism and racism that creeps in. Written in 1948, I presume it's a reflection of the times but 3 years had now passed and surely news of the holocaust must have reached Cecil Day Lewis' ears by this time so an exchange between the boys which ends with the comment "You've been jewed" is jarring to these modern ears. So too a metaphor "Like looking for a nigger in a woodpile or an albino in a snowstorm" Additionally an encounter with an old women eating and looking out a window is likened to a camel chewing the cud and played for "cheap" laughs. Yikes!The book ends at school assembly with the boys being simultaneously castigated for their illegal raid on Skinner's premises and their "disreputable" money-raising schemes, which are considered by the headmaster to be detrimental to the image of the school, and lauded as heroes for uncovering the criminals' operations by Inspector Brook. The headmaster relents in the light of Inspector Brook's praise and says that the school will pay for the broken window (the missing money not having been recovered). The boys promise to leave any future criminal detection to the police.

Enjoyable schoolboy adventure with a gang of schoolboys who manage to reveal the nefarious goings on of a trio of local ne'er do wells. Grown-ups are for the most part absent as the young boys and some girls! first try to raise money to replace a broken window at school (caused by a poorly aimed soccer ball). Here the author is able to show that hard work and a team attitude can do wonders. The money earned by the kids then disappears and the second half of the adventure ramps up the excitement as they use their noggins to find out who committed the dastardly deed. In so doing they uncover a greater criminal network. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2023-01-08 04:00:57 Autocrop_version 0.0.14_books-20220331-0.2 Boxid IA40806617 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier A Gareth Floyd illustration for The Otterbury Incident by Cecil Day-Lewis. Photograph: Ewbank’s Auctions

In a small town called Otterbury, just after the Second World War, two gangs of boys "wage war" against each other – using WWII terms. But when one of the "army's" ranks breaks a school window, the two gangs join together to try to get enough money to pay for it. Enough money is scraped together by the group – but it is stolen... The Otterbury Incident is a novel for children by Cecil Day-Lewis first published in the UK in 1948 with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone, and in the USA in 1949. Day-Lewis's second and final children's book, the novel is an adaptation of a French screenplay, Nous les gosses (Us Kids), that was filmed in 1941. [1] Plot [ edit ]



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