February's Road

Callendars #2

by John Verney

Augustus Callendar, a newspaper correspondent, has been criticising the state of British roads for years & demanding that something be done about them. Finally something IS done about it. A new trunk road is planned to run from London to Portsmouth & is to be built in record time, & at record cost. Gus Callendar is caught! The new road is to go right through his own garden.

February Callendar, who tells the story, takes the whole problem upon her own shoulders. Trying to untangle the intricacies of land ownership & development & of local politics, she finds herself in the extraordinary dealings of Sir Jasper Blow, the Minister of Highways, Peter Blow, his nephew & head of her brother Friday's House, Sir Gilbert Crump, their M.P., Lord Sprockett, & Captain Gumble who seems to be getting a good deal more out of the venture than any man should.
Her main aim is to stop the road being built at all. It is not easy for a schoolgirl to divert the plans of the Ministry but February Callendar has a good try, and in the course of her investigations some decidedly fishy facts are ubearthed.

Genres: Childrens

Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets to the point quicker than the first book, which had to introduce everyone. Some of the resolution was a bit too convenient. I hope that the rest of the series is reprinted.

[Christopher Bunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read quite a few of John Verney's Callendar books (Friday's Tunnel, Ismo, etc). I think I discovered them when I was a teenager. Anyway, even as an adult, his writing does not lose luster. He has a distinctive voice, equal parts warm, chatty, comfortable, wryly humorous and engaging.

This book, February's Road, doesn't have a big, involved plot. Rather, it's just the story of how February and her family and friends deal with a proposed road development planned smack dab through the middle of their beloved downs (and part of the Callendar yard). That's the beauty of Verney's writing, though. He doesn't need an involved plot. His characters are so warm and superb that it's a joy just trailing along after them as they argue over meals, get dragged along by their parents to social gatherings, or whatever.

If you're looking for action and flash or romance, etc., don't bother with this one. However, if you want something to curl up with on a rainy day (the literary equivalent of a hot mug of cocoa and some excellent chocolate chip cookies), then you'd do well to pick up this book or any of the other Callendar books that Verney wrote.

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another comfort reread from my childhood. Although obviously dated now as written in the early 60s, I still find these funny and gripping adventure stories, with a local politics angle to this one that is unusual for a children’s book. Unfortunately politicians are still trying to build roads through local beauty spots.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as good as I remembered. This is the sequel to Friday's Tunnel and it's about upper class British eccentric intellectuals in the country. This time someone wants to put a road through the Callendar family's beautiful rural home. Their journalist father has always advocated for proper roads so he can't very well defend themselves. But that doesn't stop him being blamed when someone sabotages the road-building machines on their property. Gus Callendar's hands may be tied but his horse-mad, tough eldest daughter February and her many siblings are on the case.

[Chris Shepheard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful children's book into the shenanigans of local authorities and developers at the time that it was written. The author was a local councillor in Farnham, Surrey, the setting broadly used for the fictional Querbury where the story is set.

[Milwiththeena · Rating 5 out of 5]

February is my least favourite month but probably one of my favourite characters ever, if only because she reminds me a lot of me. These books are so full of charm and character depth, even if written for children, but now I will have to struggle to find the next two books...

[Nick Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it because I enjoy John Verney, but it felt as though it was too easy for him to write - he'd got the characters left over from Friday's Tunnel, wanted to use them again and patched together a rather off the shelf plot. Nothing really develops within it.