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. BB thanked me for my letter. He told me he lived in a round house (and drew a picture of it), which was built in the year that Samuel Pepys began his diary. It had a weather-vane in the form of a wild goose which he himself had designed so that its beak always faced into the wind. ‘Yes, I am married,’ he wrote, so I must have asked. He had one daughter called Angela, he said, but his son Robin had died when he was 7, two years younger than me. ‘I hope you will read my books to your children,’ he wrote, ‘though by then I shall have flown away like my wild goose.’

Mr Shoebottom is an alcoholic petrol station owner who repairs the gnomes' boat after it is discovered by his son. 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 Guardian They freely use words such as “love” and “contemplative”. Oates has suggested that he was imbued with a Franciscan spirit.

Although the gnomes may be imaginary beings (I'm not entirely prepared to cede that point), the world they inhabit is very real and described in straightforward but eloquent language. The author is intimately connected to the countryside in a way most of us have lost--not just as observed beauty but as an intimate companion. Such narratives overwhelm me with longing to "return" to something that lives deep in our imaginations, something close to us but always just out of reach--in a word, Arcadia. If you have already enjoyed reading about the adventures of the Little Grey Men you may also enjoy reading another book which BB wrote featuring gnomes - "The Forest of Boland Light Railway". It's also an adventure story to rival 'The Hobbit'. The language is sublime, but it’s not a book for children alone; as with the great works of fantasy associated with younger readers, mature readers may also find the books transporting.

Marcus Crouch, Treasure Seekers and Borrowers: Children's Books in Britain 1900–1960, The Library Association, 1962, p. 92. I'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:urn:oclc:799853853 Republisher_date 20130129195654 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20130129163740 Scanner scribe2.toronto.archive.org Scanningcenter uoft Worldcat (source edition) Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905–90), who wrote under the pseudonym ‘BB’, was the author of more than sixty books for adults and children. BB was both a writer and illustrator, and his charming original illustrations decorate these books. But above all he was a countryman, whose intimate and unsentimental knowledge of animals, birds and plants, as well as his gifts as a storyteller, make these books unique. The housekeeper told us that the previous summer BB’s wife Cecily, his emotional mainstay, had died prematurely after being enveloped in pesticides sprayed by the neighbouring farmer. He himself died sixteen years later, in 1990, flying away like his wild goose weather-vane just before my first child was born. My dad bought the beautifully illustrated book The Little Grey Men, by B.B. (ages 8 to 12), for me when I was 8 or 9. It’s about three gnomes searching for their long-lost brother. Aside from being a rattling good adventure story, it’s a wonderful sort of nature study, following gnomes through the seasons. A whimsical classic of talking gnomes and magical woods for fans of The Wind in the Willows from a British Carnegie Medal recipient

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 mother encouraged me to write to BB because she shared my passion. As a child she had sent BB a map of her imagined Folly Brook, which she made on vellum, like the one Baldmoney – the cleverest of the gnomes – draws with a piece of heated wire on the inside of his mouse-skin waistcoat. While at the Northampton School of Art, Watkins-Pitchford won a travelling scholarship to Paris. He was later to say that he could not remember how long he had spent in Paris, but Quinn [3] suggests that it was probably about three months. He worked at a studio in Montparnasse, and attended drawing classes. It is unknown exactly where he studied. In the autumn of 1924, he entered the Royal College of Art in London. In 1930 he became an assistant art master at Rugby School where he remained for seventeen years. While at Rugby School he began contributing regularly to the Shooting Times and started his careers as an author and an illustrator. He wrote under the pen name of '"BB"', a name based on the size of lead shot he used to shoot geese, but he maintained the use of his real name as that of the illustrator in all his books. He later illustrated books by other writers, and sold his own paintings locally. [2] [3] Later years [ edit ]The Little Grey Men: A story for the young in heart is a children's fantasy novel written by Denys Watkins-Pitchford under the pen name "BB" and illustrated by the author under his real name. [2] It was first published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1942 and it has been reissued several times. [3] Set in the English countryside, it features the adventures of four gnomes who may be the last of their race. At the same time it features the countryside during three seasons of the year. This novel has been described as the most distinguished fantasy of the war years, a fantasy which sought to capture the beauty and wonder of an English year, a timely and timeless book. Through the choice of gnomes for the protagonists, the author was able to get closer to nature and show more effectively the hazards wild creatures face. [10] The authenticity of the natural history satisfied the preference of the Carnegie committee for realism over fantasy, and the book won the award for the most outstanding children's book of 1942. [4] [11] 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. The Little Grey Men established (Denys Watkins-Pitchford, A.K.A. ‘B.B.’) at the forefront of children’s literature.

I love adventure stories, especially ones that take you on boat journeys. And now I love those that are piloted by wee little gnomes that are thousands of years old. There’s lots of stuff to love about this book; it’s an exploration of wildlife, and a celebration of biodiversity and communality.Look ye also while life lasts: it’s what I tell my creative writing students. Wake up! Turn off your phones! Take time to stand and stare. But often I too go around in a dream, rehashing old conversations and forgetting to notice what’s going on under my nose. Most of us do. The plot, involving three gnomes who set off upstream in search of a fourth who went a-questing two years earlier, is thoroughly wrapped in rhapsodic descriptions of bird song and nodding wildflowers, bubbling waters, breezes and storms, grassy pastures, the pleasures of angling, and nature observed from ground level. . . . [F]ans of Wind in the Willows will feel right at home. . . . The story winds down to a happy twist at the end. Given patient listeners, this Carnegie Medal–winner makes a leisurely but finally engaging read-aloud.”— Kirkus Like Tolkien’s work, Watkins-Pitchford's suffers terribly from a patronising tone, its avuncularism matched by the contemporary condescension towards women. Other aspects grated too, such as an acceptance of blood sports like foxhunting, and though this was mitigated by his repulsion against the wanton killing of birds and animals by gamekeepers, I was not at all convinced that the manslaughter of one individual could be justified. The Farmer is Nanny Goat's owner. In Down The Bright Stream, Baldmoney uses his best Sunday shirt to build Wonderbird.