COVER: For eleven-year old James Joseph Johnson (or Jimmy for short) life is not always straightforward. In fact, things can be quite complicated, and don't always turn out as he'd planned...

Born in 1946, Jimmy lives with his Mum and Dad in a shiny red brick terraced house in South Yorkshire near the steel works. Sometimes the air is thick and metallic tasting, with bits of soot floating around like little black snowflakes. Despite all this, Jimmy wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

His very best friend, Ignatius Plunkett, is a scrawny boy with a sharp beak of a nose, ears like jug handles and a mop of jet black hair. Micky is his rather 'posh' friend from the big houses down the road. The boys get into a few scrapes in the year leading up to the eleven-plus exams, but will they come out on top in the end?

Will Jimmy survive a week looking after Butch, the temperamental, barrel-bodied bull terrier? Will the truth about the trip to buy Dad's tripe ever come out? What really happens to Jimmy's Mum's coffee and walnut cake, and will the mystery of the missing locket ever get solved?

A LOAD OF OLD TRIPE by GERVASE PHINN (2009) Publisher: Michael Joseph

A charming, disarming and sometimes alarming collection of childhood adventures as narrated by a marvellous storyteller. Precocious, poignant, and pleasing tales, I particularly liked Ignatius and his handling of the porcelain bowl sale while the French, John-Paul and his familiarity with proper Engleesh cracked me up. I’d preferred if the last tale had not been such a weepy one but there’s always that tale of Butch and the rabbit to be re-called and chortled over. Chris Mould’s comic illustrations are a hoot and his name really ought to be trumpeted on the cover too.
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Intended as a Christmasy read for honorary BookCrosser ‘T’ I didn’t manage to read it before the event, it being in one city while I was in quite another. It’s now read and ready to travel to amuse ‘T’!

Received 13/2/16 as part of a bumper package from rainbow3, this one intended for Mr Flutterbies9. I've read some Gervase Phinn before and I will read this one too.

I read this ages ago and really enjoyed it but cannot add any other comments to those already rather well recorded from rainbow3. Having appreciated it thoroughly, I passed it on to Mr Flutterbies9 as recommended reading for a mood uplift when needed. He has retrieved it from his tbr (thanks to Covid19) and finally read it too.

Mr Flutterbies9 really enjoyed the humour of this book amplified by the brilliant illustrations. He said it reminded him of his childhood times in the fifties in East End London still recovering from World War 11 (don't ask me how! - but I think it is more to do with the pleasurable memories of childhood in the fifties). He thoroughly enjoyed this and said he thought it should go out to a wider audience now.

I do have a 'maybe' plan for this but if that does not work out perhaps it would make a good addition to a random bookbox.

A seasonal addition to amuse (or not) and pass on!

Arrived in the post this morning, thank you.
Looks like fun!

Quick, amusing little book.
Brings back memories of sitting the 11 plus. Never had tripe, so thankfully no memories of that!

Being taken to the lunchtime meet-up.

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I picked this up at today's meetup, and it's coming with me back to Oslo, Norway.

This book had some amusing moments, and some good points, but there were things in it that just kind of seemed a bit off to me. The whole Jean-Paul thing was quite prejudiced and a stereotype. Also disappointing.

Also, disappointed it wasn't a Christmas book. The front image has snow and a tree in the window with lights on it, but there were no mention of winter, snow or Christmas in it, so that was a bit of a let down.