THE LITTLE GREY MEN

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Sorry to dwell on the point, but I think it’s worth discussing the problems inherent in nature writing, even today where there’s a tendency to greenwash social/cultural/national problems in some orgasmic dreamcloud of language, fetishising ‘Nature’. My least favorite part is the middle section in Crow Wood with the Giant Grum. The whole story has a distinct Wind in the Willows flavor and so the god Pan appears in this story too. But I didn't like the wood setting as much as they confront their enemy (a human!). The wood is supposed to feel grim because of Giant Grum so B.B. pulls that off well, but I didn't like the claustrophobic feel of it. I loved the journey along the river so much more with its openness and the lilt of the river and friendliness of the animals, even though there is danger on the river as well. Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE was a British naturalist, children's writer, and illustrator who wrote under the pseudonym "BB" and also used D.J. Watkins-Pitchford.

Although BB was 65 when he wrote to me, The Little Grey Men is subtitled ‘A Story for the Young at Heart’, and this is what he was. Though it’s a little galling to discover that I am not the only person who thinks that 1941’s [Carnegie Medal] winner, The Little Grey Men by BB, is a terrifically moving elegy for an England now almost extinct, it is gladdening in the extreme to know that other people have also been beguiled by the beauty of a meticulously observed countryside inhabited by gnomes with a passion for pipe-smoking.”—Olivia Laing, “In Praise of the Carnegie Medal,” The GuardianI'd like to give this book 4.5 stars! It was absolutely charming, and so delightfully, Britishly written - published in 1942! I would love to have someone read this book to me in an English accent! This book included illustrations by the author, and several pieces of music (written out as sheet music!) which I believe the author wrote as well, and which I am happy to be listening to my daughter, C, play right now! Truly well done! I read this book because I saw it on an internet list of books people loved as children, and stayed with them throughout life. I loved the way the author wove the story around life in the British countryside...the gnomes and other "fairy folk" are well described and interesting. He also used language beautifully to name the animals in the wood: THE depredations of humans is a persistent theme in BB’s writings; the heroes of The Little Grey Men are the last gnomes in England because of pollution from sheep dip. In its sequel, there is a poignant reference to how badgers have largely escaped harm from humans because they have rarely come into conflict with them and their interests. There can be few other combinations of text and illustration that work so harmoniously, revealing such a powerful imagination and such an intimate relationship with the minutiae of the natural world... The Little Grey Men is charming and old-fashioned (with all that implies), a mini-adventure for us but a hardy expedition for the gnomes that undertake the journey. Will they achieve their goal or will it all end in disaster, not least from the prying eyes of Giants? Not to mention the writing style-- so old and rich, I really wish we still spoke like that, ngl. I actually could only read bits at a time to soak it all in. And that one day I read a chapter during the rainstorm with tea?? 😭😭😭 BRING ME TO THAT FICTIONAL LAND.

On the banks of the Folly Brook, inside an old oak tree, live the last three gnomes in Britain: Sneezewort, Baldmoney, and Dodder. Before their fourth brother, Cloudberry, disappeared upstream seeking adventure, they lived happily and peacefully among their woodland friends. But now spring has come and the brothers start thinking about spending the summer traveling upstream to find Cloudberry.Before long they’ve built a boat and set off for unknown lands, where they find themselves involved in all kinds of adventures with new friends (wood mice, water voles, badgers) as well as with enemies (two-legged giants).

OTHER STORIES

Robin Clobber is a human seven-year-old boy, a scion of a noble family, who meets the gnomes and whose model ship is found and used by them. Two gnomes, Baldmoney and Sneezewort, set off one spring morning up the Folly Brook in search of the long-lost Cloudberry who, a year before, had himself gone in quest of the stream's source. They leave behind the older, rather grumpy, Dodder who'd lost a leg to a fox many years ago; thus begins a voyage upriver, full of delights but also fraught with danger and mortal perils.

The story finishes with Dodder producing a shell of his precious Elderberry 1905 wine and lots of high revelry and fun being enjoyed by all the Stream People who could squeeze into their tiny little house! Still, I shouldn’t be too surprised to find this this kind of content in early-20th century nature writing. You can see it in the works of other favourites. In ‘H is for Hawk’, for example, Helen Macdonald points out the fascistic ideology in beloved classics like ‘Tarka the Otter’. My favourite example is Melissa Harrison’s treatment of anti-Semitism and nativism in the English countryside in the run up to the Great War, in her truly incredible book ‘All Among the Barley’ (read it, read it now). Dodder- "the eldest and wisest of the three, was the shortest in stature, but that was because he had a wooden leg...His beard was a beauty, it hung below his belt, almost to his knees, and would have been snow white if he had not dyed it with walnut juice... Unlike the others, Dodder wore a coat and breeches of batskin, with the ears left on. He drew this almost over his head in cold weather, so that he looked like a very curious elongated bat without wings."

The gnomes decide that they have to turn home before winter really sets in. By the time they approach Oak Pool again it is snowing. When they round the corner of the Folly and set eyes on their house they notice that someone has lit a fire! Who could it be!? The gnomes have the greatest thrill of the whole adventure when the door opens and there, waving frantically, was Cloudberry! He looked just the same as when he left Oak Pool two years before, though perhaps a little thinner. A whimsical classic of talking gnomes and magical woods for fans of The Wind in the Willows from a British Carnegie Medal recipient The story starts in Spring when Baldmoney and Sneezewort set off from the Oak Pool in their handmade boat - the Dragonfly (Dodder is a stubborn gnome who and doesn't want to leave the Oak Pool and only catches up with his brothers later on when he gets lonely on his own). Unfortunately, one of the paddles of the boat breaks and they lost control of the little boat which capsizes, but thankfully no gnomes were hurt! Later in the story Dodder finds the empty Dragonfly and assumes the worst has happened to Baldmoney and Sneezewort !