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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 11:44:35 GMT
Morning boys and girls, Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin... Once upon a time there was a bunch of grown-ups that wrote some stories for children. The stories were fun and kept the children entertained. The children were happy reading the stories for many years. Until one day, when a bad man called Mr Arch put all the stories and the grown ups who wrote them into his horrible Death Match Voting Machine. Meaning the children could only pick 4 writers and their stories for bedtime, from now until forever. Of course it was a fight to the death but the children enjoyed that, seeing as though they were utterly ruthless...  Right kiddywinks, pick 4 of your favourite children's authors from this list. Some of the books you will have had read to you, some you've maybe enjoyed reading to your own children? I don't really care. I just like the carnage.. With so many brilliant stories under the belts of the authors included, I'm hoping that many of you will find this week's DM a real tough one  |
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Post by ace5150 on Feb 24, 2018 12:00:21 GMT
You've played a blinder including Helen Bannermans classic without being hauled up.
Why is Cat in a Hat down twice?
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Post by daz on Feb 24, 2018 12:21:23 GMT
4! I'll strugglle picking only 4 off that list. Need to give it some thought.
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 12:51:32 GMT
You've played a blinder including Helen Bannermans classic without being hauled up. I love Helen Bannerman's stories. They're superb. Really inventive and fun. Great stories for kids. Surreal, sure, but just what kids' books should be. Adventurous and exciting. Of course they are a product of their time and have the potential to cause controversy and offence because of the name of one character. But I genuinely think in no way are the native characters (Jumbo, Mumbo, Sambo and Mingo) in the stories depicted as uncivilised, stupid or in a derogatory manner. Little Black Sambo is one of the first 'black' heroes of western children's literature. He's smart and resourceful, and using his umbrella beats the tigers who are out to eat him.. By if I remember rightly, swirling it round and turning them into butter?!  Likewise, his sister Mingo escapes the mugger (a crocodile) out to eat her. Again using her street smarts. These are important lessons for children. The world is a scary place, full of challenges. But if you are clever and do the right thing you will succeed against those challenges. That is the message Bannerman's work tells us. Not some derogatory message of race inferiority. Quite the opposite. Anyone actually spending two minutes to get over one title, and going on to read her stories, I'm sure would enjoy them. As you know Ace I am not a fan of censorship at all. And I am happy to include Bannerman's excellent body of work in the above list. As far as I am concerned, she deserves to be up there.. Personally, I think the bleeding hearts and do-gooders should stay away from OUR childhood, and stop trying to chop, change and erase what parts of history they don't like or feel they ought to disagree with. |
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Post by daz on Feb 24, 2018 13:43:50 GMT
OK, first vote was Roger Hargreaves and his Mr Men series. I love the way this guy took some felt tip pens and created these characters and stories which have captured the imaginations of generations of kids including me and both my sons. You could take these stories and go back or forwards by hundreds of years and the power of them would still be the same.
Shirley Hughes - I have the entire collection of Shirley Hughes stories including her most famous creation 'Alfie'. Beautifully illustrated books and great stories which capture the innocence of early childhood so superbly. Both my sons favourite book was a story called Bonting, which is an Alfie story about a day to the seaside where he brings his favourite pebble 'BOnting' to the seaside and then loses him amongst all the other pebbles, but never fear there is a happy ending.
Kenneth Grahame - Wind in the Willows - I read this again last year and although it is quite dark, it is such a great story about friendship and for me I would make every kid read this book. Grahame wrote these stories for his son Alistair, who was a poorly child and who killed himself just before he turned 20.
Roald Dahl - His stories are just wonderful and will never lose their appeal. They are everything a childrens book should be, mischievous, very funny and most importantly, transport children to another world. JUst an excellent author for any age group really.
It is quite sad to think there will be millions of kids who will never get any of these stories read to them.
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Post by ace5150 on Feb 24, 2018 14:00:40 GMT
I plumped for Raymond Briggs as one of my choices. He is a great cartoonist. Try and find When The Wind Blows, it is fantastic. The artwork enhances the excellent story.
I also have Ethel & Ernest by him as well, a lovely story..
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 14:12:54 GMT
Why is Cat in a Hat down twice? Because the Death Match Overlord decrees it so....... Errrr... That or I made a (very rare) mistake. Doh!  or as Dr Seuss* might have put it: So Arch's small blunder leaves Ace left to wonder: 'Why two cats have two hats, and double their christening?' When surely one vote is traditional listing? In error? by choice? We are not sure which, It's too late to change though, so sorry tough t!ts. *Apologies to any Dr Seuss fans out there by the way.  |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 14:32:37 GMT
I plumped for Raymond Briggs as one of my choices. He is a great cartoonist. Try and find When The Wind Blows, it is fantastic. The artwork enhances the excellent story. I also have Ethel & Ernest by him as well, a lovely story.. I used to read Briggs' Jim and the Beanstalk to my ex-partners little girl all the time. She liked the voice I did for the giant. I probably read it to her 50 times. Admittedly not as much as some of her favourites... Like 'The Wolves In The Walls' by Neil Gaimen. I dread to think how many times I read that book. After a while though we'd make our own stories up a lot of the time. I have this glove puppet see, who's a cat. I call him 'Albert Fish' after the infamous child murderer (which I found funny and she was too young to get......... Yeah, I know, I have a lousy sense of humour, right?!) and we used to like making up our own stories, with Albert telling them. Fortunately she was never too critical of my feeble attempts at ventriloquism. When she was older I'd write stories for her to read herself, as well as still reading for her. |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 14:42:48 GMT
OK, first vote was Roger Hargreaves and his Mr Men series. I love the way this guy took some felt tip pens and created these characters and stories which have captured the imaginations of generations of kids including me and both my sons. You could take these stories and go back or forwards by hundreds of years and the power of them would still be the same. Shirley Hughes - I have the entire collection of Shirley Hughes stories including her most famous creation 'Alfie'. Beautifully illustrated books and great stories which capture the innocence of early childhood so superbly. Both my sons favourite book was a story called Bonting, which is an Alfie story about a day to the seaside where he brings his favourite pebble 'BOnting' to the seaside and then loses him amongst all the other pebbles, but never fear there is a happy ending. Kenneth Grahame - Wind in the Willows - I read this again last year and although it is quite dark, it is such a great story about friendship and for me I would make every kid read this book. Grahame wrote these stories for his son Alistair, who was a poorly child and who killed himself just before he turned 20. Roald Dahl - His stories are just wonderful and will never lose their appeal. They are everything a childrens book should be, mischievous, very funny and most importantly, transport children to another world. JUst an excellent author for any age group really. It is quite sad to think there will be millions of kids who will never get any of these stories read to them. Yes, I also voted for Hargreaves and Dahl. Those two are superb. Hughes I read and enjoyed, surprisingly. Though never as a child. Her books are better than you'd think. I've never read The Wind In The Willows. Well I have but not the full version. |
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Post by daz on Feb 24, 2018 14:50:49 GMT
I would have picked Raymond Briggs too Ace, but that ***t Stanton only gave us 4 choices.  Ethel and Earnest is a great watch, very emotional. I could quite easily have picked 10 and still missed out some other gems. As is usual Arch, another great death match. |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 16:16:00 GMT
I would have picked Raymond Briggs too Ace, but that ***t Stanton only gave us 4 choices. Ethel and Earnest is a great watch, very emotional. I could quite easily have picked 10 and still missed out some other gems. As is usual Arch, another great death match. Where's the fun in 10 guesses? Much like yourself though Daz I could easily have picked 10.... and then 10 more. I suspect great authors like Rudyard Kipling and Frances Hodgson Burnett are gonna score really low. Well worth reading are the Mr Gum stories by Andy Stanton (no relation). Very funny. I can easily read them as an adult. They follow the adventures of this grumpy old bumface called Mr Gum, They're really amusing. Probably half the jokes in them are aimed at the parents. I think the first one is called something like 'You're a Bad Man Mr Gum', in which the titular character gets cross at this big friendly dog that everyone in the village likes, coz it keeps rolling around on his lawn making the villagers happy. So he devises a plot to get rid of the big dog and chaos ensues. |
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Post by plasticpenguin on Feb 24, 2018 17:21:24 GMT
You've missed one, Arch. Spike Milligan wrote some books with his take on traditional children's stories. I think they were turned into records/audio stuff.
He told the story about the 'Three Little Pigs'. Can't recall exactly how the story went - it was donkeys years ago. But after the wolf couldn't blow the house made of bricks down, Milligan concluded, only as he could: "The moral of the story is: Don't buy a crummy house". That still makes me chuckle.
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Post by ltd on Feb 24, 2018 17:57:03 GMT
Some fairly adult choices in there e.g. Watership Down (the last part is a rerun of the battle of Arnhem in some kind of parallel rabbit universe where the allies won), Adrian Mole (suburban life in the early 80s) and even The Wind in the Willows (The Wild Wood and Pan chapters almost veer into folk horror and I could almost believe the latter was written under the influence of mushrooms).
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 18:39:41 GMT
Nope, the Death Match Overlord does not 'miss' things. The selection is always carefully considered. Which is why on this particular occasion there was no 'Other' option either. For example, I left out scores of children's authors. Including some of my personal favourites. Terry Jones (The Python), for example, wrote some superb children's fairy tale fiction. Very well written and funny. So sometimes choices may appear like mistakes, or some others not present when you think they should - glaring omissions. But nothing could be further from the truth. All suggestions are pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed and numbered, and therefore could one day be used....................... Then again, equally they may not. Mr Milligan may appear in another DM, another time. Maybe even for his children's literature.. Who knows? Only the Death Match Overlord has the power to decide this. The current Death Match Overlord will one day expire and be re-incarnated, and then a new DMO will oversee and choose death matches for your amusement. Until then though, the current Death Match Overlord reigns supreme. Remember: 'A regular voter is a happy voter'. |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 24, 2018 18:43:33 GMT
Some fairly adult choices in there ......... The Wind in the Willows (The Wild Wood and Pan chapters almost veer into folk horror and I could almost believe the latter was written under the influence of mushrooms). Yeah I thought a mix was a good idea, chuck a bit of teen fiction, action and scary stuff in there too. From what you and Daz have said about Grahame's WITW, I instantly need to read an unabridged version of this book!!!  |
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Post by daz on Feb 24, 2018 19:44:37 GMT
A lot of people believe that Wind in the Willows is also a story of suppressed homosexuality.
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Deleted
Deus est regit qui omnia.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2018 19:46:19 GMT
A lot of people believe that Wind in the Willows is also a story of suppressed homosexuality. For goodness sake Daz, don't get Arch started! |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 25, 2018 9:42:57 GMT
A lot of people believe that Wind in the Willows is also a story of suppressed homosexuality. Why? That sounds like cobblers to me. People read too much into stuff these days, always looking for some secret meaning propelled by what is usually their own hidden agenda, to strip away innocence and corrupt something cherished by others. So okay I've never read it and I could be wrong, but what if Grahame was just writing some anthropomorphic kids' adventure about four pals that get into scrapes together? Why do we need some sexual subtext. Is it not just simplar to assume he was writing a kids story about animals and their environment? Suppressed homosexuality.Yeah, whatever......... I reckon that's b******s. Maybe I'm just naive and simple. |
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Post by daz on Feb 25, 2018 11:09:50 GMT
Why? I have no idea, just some peoples theory, but I doubt a guy would write stories for his young son based on homosexual tendancies, especially so in the Victorian age.
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Post by thewoodster on Feb 25, 2018 21:42:36 GMT
1. Enid blyton...famous five,secret seven..noddy..etc..
2. Roger Hargreaves ..mr men
3. Roald Dahl...Charlie and the chocolate factory/great glass elevator.
4.my fourth choice isn't on your list,but for me many moons ago as a young boy,these were a good set of books to read.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK....THE THREE INVESTIGATORS.(sure that was the name of these books)
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Post by KarinB on Feb 26, 2018 1:12:36 GMT
I'm not happy.  The list shouldn't include young fiction and teenage fiction together, completely different audiences. I've picked, but I'm not happy ! |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Feb 26, 2018 7:59:11 GMT
I'm not happy. The list shouldn't include young fiction and teenage fiction together, Some teens don't read teenage fiction Karin. They never had the chance. Instead they matured early and spent their time kissing round the back of the bike sheds and becoming drug mules for cartels, etc.. Only to be shown a moral code by powerful shows like Minder, from which they left behind their life of delinquency and joined this forum to vote in these Death matches, as a way to pass the time and help them forget their past problems.. I suppose you would rather I exclude these people? By eliminating the only fiction they've ever known.. young fiction? Make this all about teen fiction? That wouldn't be right would it. I thought not Karin. I knew you'd understand. The list also includes both genres for reasons known only to the Death Match Overlord. This is why I was generous and gave you FOUR whole votes. Remember: A regular voter is a happy voter, Karin. |
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Post by KarinB on Mar 1, 2018 6:31:22 GMT
I'm not happy. The list shouldn't include young fiction and teenage fiction together, Some teens don't read teenage fiction Karin. They never had the chance. Instead they matured early and spent their time kissing round the back of the bike sheds and becoming drug mules for cartels, etc.. Only to be shown a moral code by powerful shows like Minder, from which they left behind their life of delinquency and joined this forum to vote in these Death matches, as a way to pass the time and help them forget their past problems.. Ah it's all making sense now. I'd like to make an honourable mention for Beatrix Potter (who no one has voted for) on the basis of cute characters.  Surely the stately grounds of Stanton Hall must be filled with delightful animals like the ones prettily described in Ms Potter's books ? |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Mar 1, 2018 6:48:49 GMT
Some teens don't read teenage fiction Karin. They never had the chance. Instead they matured early and spent their time kissing round the back of the bike sheds and becoming drug mules for cartels, etc.. Only to be shown a moral code by powerful shows like Minder, from which they left behind their life of delinquency and joined this forum to vote in these Death matches, as a way to pass the time and help them forget their past problems.. Ah it's all making sense now. I'd like to make an honourable mention for Beatrix Potter (who no one has voted for) on the basis of cute characters. Surely the stately grounds of Stanton Hall must be filled with delightful animals like the ones prettily described in Ms Potter's books ? It is. I have an abundance of wildlife. I am very lucky. Like people, animals also love me and are naturally drawn to me. Of course I have to restrain Tonks, my groundsman, from killing the animals quite a bit but generally speaking he's pretty good and the animals have free reign. The main attraction at the moment is a big bird of prey (a buzzard?) that has taken to using one particular branch of a tree as a perch. From there it can survey one of my fields. The branch is just a few (40?) feet from my door, just past the sundial. It is a splendid creature. When Tonks takes his tractor out the bird gets excited and follows him about with its mate, presumably looking for any rodents (mice, voles etc) or other kill, that get disturbed by the tractor |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Mar 2, 2018 10:59:45 GMT
Kenneth Grahame - Wind in the Willows - I read this again last year and although it is quite dark, it is such a great story about friendship and for me I would make every kid read this book. The Wind in the Willows (The Wild Wood and Pan chapters almost veer into folk horror and I could almost believe the latter was written under the influence of mushrooms). I dished out £2.35 on a complete version of this today. Based on your posts I have high hopes for it. |
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Post by ltd on Mar 2, 2018 11:29:33 GMT
Why? I have no idea, just some peoples theory, but I doubt a guy would write stories for his young son based on homosexual tendancies, especially so in the Victorian age. It's a story about friendship between blokes (albeit ones who happen to be animals). I think people in Kenneth Grahame's era (particularly middle and upper class people), sometimes expressed themselves in a way that to us might seem a bit camp. That's all there is to it I reckon. |
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Post by gustav on Mar 3, 2018 1:02:00 GMT
I'm surprised at how few of these I have actually read, although I have enjoyued the films that have been based on most of them. Most of the ones I have read have been to entertain the children but the only two that I have read for my own pleasure (and I have not read things like 'War Horse' which I do believe are excellent) and really valued are the Hobbit and Alice in Wonderland.
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Post by daz on Mar 3, 2018 12:27:30 GMT
I would say I have read most, but never ALice in WOnderland or War Horse. I didn't like the Hobbit, really not my kind of book.
Two missing off the list which I like a lot are the Paddington Books by Michael Bond and The Wombles by Elisabeth Beresford. The list itself though offered a good selection of books and authors.
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Post by billyfarmer on Mar 3, 2018 22:16:45 GMT
I voted for Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain, I have seen and enjoyed the BBC adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia (1988-1990), but have never read any of C.S. Lewis's Books, I have also enjoyed watching the 1974 film version of Swallows and Amazons, but have never read the Book (written by Arthur Ransome).
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Post by thewoodster on Mar 4, 2018 0:57:14 GMT
You jogged my memory there daz,with Elizabeth beresford
The wombles of Wimbledon common..
Fantastic 70s books.
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Ethel and Earnest is a great watch, very emotional. 
The list shouldn't include young fiction and teenage fiction together, completely different audiences. 
Surely the stately grounds of Stanton Hall must be filled with delightful animals like the ones prettily described in Ms Potter's books ? 
