I am sure it has been said many
times before, but Philip Ardagh is a giant amongst children's authors, in
more ways than one. Our school Book Club were lucky enough to be
invited to go and meet him at a nearby school last week (he was
extremely funny and very beardy!), so I thought it would be an ideal
time to re-read some of his earlier books.
Awful
End is the first book in the Eddie Dickens Trilogy. Often when I read a
'funny' children's book I can see why it would be funny to children,
even though it doesn't make me laugh. However, Awful End made me laugh
out loud several times, and snort at least twice. Interestingly, the book was originally written
as a series of letters to Philip Ardagh's nephew who was away at
boarding school.
It
is about a boy called Eddie Dickens (although he is sometimes called
Jonathan and sometimes called Simon) who is sent to live with his Mad
Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maud at their house, Awful End. This is
due to the fact that both of his parents are suffering from an
unpleasant disease which turns them yellow, as well as making them go crinkly
around the edges and smell of hot water bottles. On his travels,
Eddie meets a giant cow, a stuffed stoat called Malcolm, an actor called
Mr Pumblesnook and numerous other crazy characters. One of my
favourites is the housemaid, Gibbering Jane, who lives under the stairs
and only eats slices of very thin ham. By the way, these books were
written well before the Lemony Snicket series and are much, much better!
The
Eddie Dickens Trilogy is completed by Dreadful Acts and Terrible Times,
which are equally as funny. There are also three more Eddie Dickens
books available called, rather creatively, The Further Adventures of
Eddie Dickens.
Extremely
enjoyable, whether you are a child or an adult and definitely a book
that you need to read. Funny in places and hilarious in other places.
It had started to rain and the raindrops mixed with the tears that poured down his mother's face. She was busy peeling an onion.
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