Biggles - The Boy, by W. E. Johns
To take on a wounded leopard, unarmed, with a fear-crazed elephant to boot...
Biggles' boyhood in India! Every chapter has Kid Biggles encountering a different danger or often multiple different dangers, accompanied by a short monograph on the habits, habitats, and perils of cobras, pythons, kraits, mad elephants, rabid dogs, angry buffaloes, man-eating leopards, man-eating tigers, man-eating crocodiles, etc. At one point Johns writes It must not be imagined the James encountered a dangerous beast every time he went out but that is definitely the impression the book gives.
I don't rec this except to the completist, as it's got high levels of background and sometimes foreground racism, and is written in a different style which is very consciously for children and is both educational and a bit stilted. But if what you're really here for is Kid Biggles leaping from a riverbank onto a crocodile's head (I sure was) this book provides.
Crocodiles aside, it has a very fun portrayal of Biggles as a kid, young and inexperienced but recognizably the same person we meet as an adult - quick-witted, cool-headed, brave, and kind. Despite all the animal battles, they don't all end in animal death and he explicitly respects everything's right to live. He comes across as a very sweet kid.
At one point his father, who spends the entire book reluctantly okaying Biggles to do all sorts of insane things so long as he's careful, points out that his plan to stake out the riverbank for a man-eating crocodile will interfere with his schooling. Biggles promptly offers to take his schoolbooks and read at all moments when he's not actively crocodile-watching.
I also appreciated the backstory that had recurrent fevers as a child. Need fic where they recur as an adult, which they probably would because they were probably malaria. This also makes more sense of von Stalhein thinking he's delicate and the general impression that while he's physically adept, he's not a big brawny guy and achieves what he does based more on wits, chutzpah, quick reflexes, and friendliness than on beating people up.
[image error]
[image error] comments
Biggles' boyhood in India! Every chapter has Kid Biggles encountering a different danger or often multiple different dangers, accompanied by a short monograph on the habits, habitats, and perils of cobras, pythons, kraits, mad elephants, rabid dogs, angry buffaloes, man-eating leopards, man-eating tigers, man-eating crocodiles, etc. At one point Johns writes It must not be imagined the James encountered a dangerous beast every time he went out but that is definitely the impression the book gives.
I don't rec this except to the completist, as it's got high levels of background and sometimes foreground racism, and is written in a different style which is very consciously for children and is both educational and a bit stilted. But if what you're really here for is Kid Biggles leaping from a riverbank onto a crocodile's head (I sure was) this book provides.
Crocodiles aside, it has a very fun portrayal of Biggles as a kid, young and inexperienced but recognizably the same person we meet as an adult - quick-witted, cool-headed, brave, and kind. Despite all the animal battles, they don't all end in animal death and he explicitly respects everything's right to live. He comes across as a very sweet kid.
At one point his father, who spends the entire book reluctantly okaying Biggles to do all sorts of insane things so long as he's careful, points out that his plan to stake out the riverbank for a man-eating crocodile will interfere with his schooling. Biggles promptly offers to take his schoolbooks and read at all moments when he's not actively crocodile-watching.
I also appreciated the backstory that had recurrent fevers as a child. Need fic where they recur as an adult, which they probably would because they were probably malaria. This also makes more sense of von Stalhein thinking he's delicate and the general impression that while he's physically adept, he's not a big brawny guy and achieves what he does based more on wits, chutzpah, quick reflexes, and friendliness than on beating people up.
[image error]
[image error] comments
No comments have been added yet.
