Product Description

Barney is a solitary eight-year-old, given to wandering off by himself. One day he is lying on the edge of disused chalk-pit when he tumbles over, lands in a sort of cave, and meets 'somebody with a lot of shaggy hair and two bright black eyes' - wearing a rabbit-skin and speaking in grunts. He names him Stig. They learn to understand one another, and together they raid the rubbish dump at the bottom of the pit, improve Stig's cave dwelling, and enjoy a series of adventures that are sometimes wildly improbably and sometimes extremely practical.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1751 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-06
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Clive King was born in Richmond, Surrey in 1924. When he was a baby his family moved to a village called Ash, near Sevenoaks in Kent, which is the setting for Stig of the Dump. He went to local schools, then King's School, Rochester and Downing College, Cambridge. During the war he served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and later joined the British Council. He now lives in a cottage in Norfolk, and has three children and several grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Enchanting
I have just sent this book as a present to my nephew. I remember spending hours reading it on summers days in my bedroom as a child. This totally captivated my imagination then and I can't think of many books that made more impact. The story has been described to death but the depth of imagination involved and the historic significance can't be overlooked. Loved it!

What is Stig?
Barney stays with his grandmother and his sister, Lou, for the holidays. In the holidays Barney goes to the chalk pit where he first meets Stig on a very hot day! The problem is that nobody believes Stig is real until they see him. Lou, sees Stig one night when the two of them (Lou and Barney) go out and see a strange tribe of cave people. Barney spots Stig ad introduces him to Stig and the two of them become Honoured Guests at the celebration. Another time, Stig frightens her and she assumes that it is really Barney because they were going to a fancy dress party as, Lou a puma and him a cave man. Stig and Barney become heroes when they stop thieves from stealing from his grandmothers house and they recover the other treasures that the robbers took. Snargets are the roughest boys in town but when Stig takes the youngest Snarget, little Robin Hood, the other two turn as timid as kittens. They give Stig and Barney three gifts which they share. First they give some jelly babies and Stig likes them, second the give sherbets with liquorice straws which stig loves and last they give a packet of cigarettes which barney totally despises! I liked the bit when Barney fell through the roof of Stig's home at the first meeting and even though the two of them didn't understand each other much they were great friends! I would rate this book about 9/ 10 and I think that 9 - 12 year old would like it a lot if they like adventurous stories.

Stig of the Dump
This book truly deserves to be rated as a modern classic.

It has everything, humour, wonderful descriptions from a child's point of view, a cracking concept and a great storyline.

This book is a sure-fire way to introduce a child into reading for themselves - walk them through the first chapter and they will be so captivated they will read the rest themselves or burst in the attempt.

Highly recommended - I would give it 5 stars but for the fact it is a little dated and some of the concepts would be lost on a modern child. Nevertheless it deserves at least 4½ stars.

Imagine falling in a disused quarry, now a rubbish dump (exciting enough in itself) but to find yourself confronted by a real live cave-boy, somehow transported 25,000 years forward in time. Stig (the cave boy) cannot speak (of course) in more than a few grunts, but that's not a problem, kids don't need spoken language to communicate. He is ingenious, brave and resourceful. The two of them get up to a whole heap of adventures culminating in a trip back in time one hot summer night to see Stigs tribe.

Read it and enjoy .. you won't be disappointed!