Embedded Files
Clive King
I read this to my class recently having not read it for many years. They really enjoyed it, I think largely because it gives lots of opportunites for children to be knowing. Often children are in situations where adults or others know more than them, or at least where the social mores make that feel the case, Stig of the Dump is full of chances for children to feel that power of knowing something someone else doesn't. They know about the modern world, which Stig does not and they know that Stig is real, which Barney's family don't. This can give them a fond exasperation for the characters who repeatedly miss the point that is so obvious to them. It is also a story that encourages curiosity and wonder. Stig's adaptation of everyday things to unusual uses can start children thinking about different uses of the things around them. We particularly enjoyed the scene with the umbrella which Stig turns to at least six different uses. It is an inventivenss that children can access, not one barred off by technical prerequisites. Part of what Barney enjoys in his friendship with Stig is being genuinely useful, Stig's inventiveness sparks in him an inventiveness of his own, imagining new uses for familar things. The book also has a strong message against waste, Stig's use of the things in the dump is reminiscent of indigenous peoples' using of the whole animal and the setting of the dump reinforces the message of the usefulness of what we throw away.
The book is quite episodic in nature, each chapter an almost standalone story. There is reletively little overarching narrative, although there are various running themes. It is particularly interesting when Barney has inner discussions with himself to try and convince himself that Stig exists, it is striking how hard it is for him to believe the eveidence of his own eyes when it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. He often ends up almost persuading himself of what he fears to be true, that it was all a matter of imagination. The unconvential Stig is also good at disrupting and satirising Barney's preconceptions of the world. I particularly like the chapter on fox hunting where Barney's idea of a proper hunt (only for foxes, for sport) clashes with Stig's philosophy of only hunting what he might eat. King is good at using Stig to highlight the oddness of elements the modern world, particularly waste, of resources but also of life. It is never explained how Stig comes to be in modern Britain but late parts of the book hint at the magic of a solstice and the memory of the land. Overall though the book is happy with the mystery of it, it doesn't need to answer questions, just to provide a place for children to wonder. The Ardizzone illustrations are lovely, his style gives a good sense of a cosy kind of wildness which complements the book well.
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