Two books written by Hester Knight, mother of trainer Henrietta, for her two daughters 50 years ago, are reprinted in hardback with their original Raoul Millais illustrations. Escape to the Downs, which could be read aloud to children of six and over, is the story of the Knights’ animals; Florian the Shetland pony, Syringa the hen, Gandhi the mynah bird and Fay the Pekinese, who, having heard their owners endlessly talking about going up on the Downs, decide to escape and see them for themselves. I have happy memories of taking a group of East End children for a weekend camp to Lockinge in the 1960s. They spent all their time falling, with shrieks of glee, on and off the Knights’ extremely naughty Shetland ponies. I expect Florian was one of them. The Donkey Derby is for slightly older children and is the story of Lucky, a donkey who is bought to be the companion of neurotic Derby prospect Lucifer, but who enjoys his own moment of glory in the Donkey Derby. The book gives a vivid and amusing picture of life in a racing stables. Both are published by Long Barn Books at £10.
An anthology makes a good present, and The Orchard Book of Goblins, Ghouls and Ghosts by Martin Waddell (Orchard, £12.99) starts on a suitably spooky note. ‘The graveyard was old and forsaken. It was bleak and bare and no one went there, for fear of Cold Johnny, the old ghoul who guarded the graves.’ The collection includes many stories from Ireland and is enhanced by Tony Ross’s equally eerie illustrations. As Martin Waddell says in his introduction: ‘Read, shiver, wonder … enjoy.’ A handsome and well chosen poetry anthology is The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, compiled and illustrated by Jackie Morris (Barefoot Books, £14.99). This is an excellent selection from every period, from Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath. It would be most enjoyed by children of ten and over.
Lastly, if you missed it when it first appeared earlier this year. The Dangerous Book for Boys (HarperCollins, £20) by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden will give your children hours of pleasure, as long as you do not mind spending the holiday being attacked by homemade bows and arrows, catapults and water bombs. The earlier the book of this type, the more robust its aims. I had one published in the early 19th century which gave detailed instructions on creating a small earthquake, and was only prevented from having a go by my inability to access ‘a large quantity of iron filings’. Anyway, I am truly grateful to the Iggulden brothers for reminding me of the final stage of constructing a water bomb, which was maddeningly eluding me. My advice to parents for a peaceful and harmonious Christmas is: stick to water and don’t let your children use ink!
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