Clive King’s ‘Stig of the dump’ is about a boy called Barney who befriends a caveman called ‘Stig’ who lives in a quarry. Barney finds Stig by accidently falling into the quarry and through the roof of Stig’s den. From this point onwards they become good friends. We have taken an extract from chapter 6 of the popular LKS2 book Stig of the Dump and added lots of errors! Choose one of the main events of the story and write a diary entry about it from Barney’s point of view.

Stig lives in a former quarry where people toss their trash. He finds new ways to use the things others no longer need. Barney befriends him and works with him on home improvement projects even though they cannot understand each other's language. As the book progresses Stig helps Barney in his modern world until the magnificent ending on midsummer's eve. I wonder how this book has helped youngsters better appreciate prehistoric features like Stonehenge? Recall’s a funny thing at the best of times and mine’s gotten seriously worse since I had my stroke. There were parts of this book I was reciting word-for-word along with the audiobook and there were other parts I didn’t remember at all. Part of the joy of rereading, I suppose. Why oh why did it take me so long to a)be able to read and b)spend time with Stig and Barney? I really enjoyed this book from the outset and it was all due to Clive King's engaging writing style and voice. How effortlessly he captures Barney's childlike disposition alongside the beauty and rare magic of the North Downs (how can you not but love the scene when Barney and Lou cross paths with the stag). Published in 1963, Stig of the Dump tells the story of a young boy named Barney. He stumbles across a place where people dump all their rubbish and finds it's occupied by a caveman-like character named Stig. The story explores the themes of family and friendships, making it a perfect and age-appropriate story to teach in KS2. Here are some thinking points you can introduce to your class: Stig of the Dump is one of those modern classic stories that has remained prevalent in children's literature since it's first publication in 1963. I chose to read and review it as it's one of the more challenging books that managed to entice me at primary school.The social commentary is very entertaining. Barney is clearly a bit of a posh boy, from an upper middle class family. There's a fox hunt, which he's too young to join, but he decides to go unofficially with Stig. Things don't go to plan when Stig kills a pheasant, but refuses to kill a fox when he has the chance. Barney is worried because killing pheasants isn't very sporting, but Stig communicates to him that foxes don't taste good, whereas pheasants do. And of course Stig's logic makes more sense - he kills for food, not for sport. Looking for more resources from Puffin? Take a look at our Stigs Den Colouring Sheet. Or, explore another brilliant title using our 'The Great Dream Robbery' Word Mat here! What is ‘Stig of the Dump’ about? In this activity, your Year 3 / Year 4 class will read the sentences and insert the words from the word bank to complete each sentence. Another issue that Primary teachers will need to be aware of is the fact that the language in the book is not modern and may therefore present problems for younger readers. Your class are challenged to read through the extract and look for spelling mistakes, highlight them and write the correct spelling.

Stig's role in the story is a fascinating one. Barney does not rely on him at all times and it is interesting that he only visits his friend when he's over at his grandparents. It is only when Barney is bored, in danger and wanting to roleplay that he calls upon his friend. There is more to this, I think.

David Clive King was born in Richmond, Surrey, England in 1924 but spent most of his childhood in Ash, a small village some 30 miles from London on the Kentish North Downs, where he and his three brothers used to play in a disused chalk pit. He was a boarder at King's School, Rochester at a time when every boy expected to be called up for the armed services in World War Two, and he opted for the Navy. This gave him seagoing experience that took him to the Arctic, Australia and Asia. In Chapter 4 Barney and Stig go hunting. Have a class debate to discuss the ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments about hunting.

Stig of the Dump tells the story of a boy who discovers a cave man living in a dump in the local chalk pits near his granny's house. The two become friends and enjoy lots of building and creating using the left over materials in the dump. Along the course of the story they build a chimney, see off some house robbers and help the zoo capture a leopard. The story ends with a magical experience where the children are transported to stone age Britain to witness the creation of Stone Henge by stone age peoples. This lovely story about the unlikely friendship between Barney and stone-age Stig has stood the test of time. Although it is now over 50 years old, contemporary children will love reading about the pair's lively adventures. Clive Kings' story is perfectly accompanied by Edward Ardizzone's classic illustrations. In this activity, your class will recognise and edit the sentences to highlight where apostrophes should go and the reason it has been used. We have differentiated this activity so you can choose which would best suit your class. Your class can highlight inverted commas, insert inverted commas, or insert them with help.Stig is extremely inventive. Together, Barney and Stig build a window, build a chimney, fight off some house robbers, help a zoo capture a leopard that has escaped. One of the things that the story focuses on is the pleasure to be obtained from building and making things and how much can be done with what is at hand. This is even more pertinent today than it was in 1963 when the book was published given the current emphasis on recycling. Imagine that you are a policeman interviewing Barney about the robbery. What questions would you ask? How would he respond? Read this at school in p5 was not interested I thought it was boring but I was looking for books for my kindle and I stumbled across this and I gave it one last chance and I fell in love - wish there was another one.

This book is pretty interesting and I laughed a few times early on, especially at the incongruity of Barney wondering whether Stig might have a clothes-brush for getting rid of chalk dust. Young and naïve, Barney is an easy to warm to unreliable (third person) narrator. He is curious about Stig without judgment. An honest child, Barney recounts his experiences faithfully to his grandmother and sister, which they dismiss as imaginary. This disbelief compounded with plenty of spare time frees Barney up for various interludes with Stig. The ending of the novel describes a mysterious and magical event involving stone age cave men dragging stones into an upright position until they disappear with the dawning of Midsummer’s Day leaving only Stig behind with Barney and Lou who had also joined this expedition. This would provide an excellent beginner to a discussion about the Stone Age and the Bronze Age and the creation of monuments like Stone Henge. Clive King's Stig of the Dump is a much-loved modern classic. It is the story of Barney and his best friend, cave-man Stig. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) illustrated over 200 books and was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for Tim All Alone. He was awarded the CBE in 1971. He returned with a post-war grant to Downing College, Cambridge, where he read English and Russian. The British Council offered him jobs, mostly concerned with teaching English, in Amsterdam, Belfast, Syria, Beirut, Dhaka and Madras (now Chennai). Many of these places provided settings for the stories he was writing. In 1973, he became a full-time writer, heartened by the growing popularity of his third book, Stig of the Dump. Clive lives in Norfolk with his family. The above video may be from a third-party source. We accept no responsibility for any videos from third-party sources. Please let us know if the video is no longer working. By looking at sentence starters, your class will improve their knowledge and be able to have greater variety when writing independently.