In celebration of its 60th Anniversary, Puffin are reissuing this classic story of (pre)historic friendship and adventure, with a new introduction from award-winning author, Phil Earle.
Barney is a solitary little boy, given to wandering off by himself. One day he is lying on the edge of a disused chalk-pit when it gives way and he lands in a sort of cave. Here he 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. Of course nobody believes Barney when he tells his family all about Stig, but for Barney cave-man Stig is totally real. They become great friends, learning each others ways and embarking on a series of unforgettable adventures.
‘A thrilling book about the power of boredom.’ - Cottrell Boyce in The Guardian
‘The book’s depiction of the vivid interior life and imagination of a child, the delight of roaming free, making shelters and dens away from the grown-ups, as well as ideas such as the universal language of friendship – and even the importance of recycling – feel as fresh and relevant today as they did when Puffin first published it in 1963.’ **- Francesca Dow at Penguin Random House Children’s
David Clive King was born in Richmond, Surrey in 1924. In 1926 he moved with his parents to a farm in Kent, alongside which was an abandoned chalk-pit, which later became the setting for Stig of the Dump.
Thereafter he went to King’s School, Rochester, Downing College, Cambridge, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. From 1943 to 1947 he served in the Royal Navy, travelling widely and civilian postings as an officer of the British Council took him to Amsterdam, Belfast, Aleppo, Damascus, Beirut, Dhaka and Madras.
These exotic places provided material for his nineteen children’s stories, but his best-known book Stig of The Dump was written in East Sussex. Clive King passed away in 2018, aged 94.
‘He was one of those special writers who created an encounter that became iconic, a moment that people who read the book never forget.’ - The Guardian
'King's modern classic from 1963 is enduringly loved because it contains so many irresistible ingredients.' - The Times
Publisher: Puffin, April 2023
Primary Agent: Caroline Walsh
Film/TV Agent: DHA (Nicky Lund)
Extent : 272 pages
Illustrations: Black and white, by Edward Ardizzone
Co-Agents: Chinese - Andrew Nurnberg Associates; Japanese - Japan Uni
Rights Sold: Spanish and Catalan - Editorial Casals