Great Escape

by Colin Dann

Eric made up his mind. He would go to the pet shop, open the cages and let the little troupe of animals free, to make their own way in the world. And so began A Great Escape.

Genres: Animals, Childrens

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 1991

About the author

Colin Dann (born 1943 in Richmond, Surrey (now part of London)) is an English author. He is best known for his The Animals of Farthing Wood series of books, which was subsequently made into an animated series.

Dann worked at the publishing firm William Collins Sons & Co. for thirteen years, and his first novel, The Animals of Farthing Wood, was written during this period. The original cover for this and a dozen others was painted by Portal artist Frances Broomfield.

Colin Dann, recipient of Britain's Arts Council National Award for Children's Literature, is also the author of six sequels and a prequel to The Animals of Farthing Wood.

Reviews

[Lone Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘A Great Escape’ tells the story of a group of pet shop animals who are released by a naive employee. At the suggestion of Spider the monkey, they journey towards a distant windmill, each moving at their own pace – but they soon realize life in the wild is not easy. Will they make it to the windmill? And what awaits them there if they do?

This isn’t one of Dann’s best works – it lacks the depth of some of his other novels, with several of the characters having next to no personality, and the ending is a bit of an anti-climax. Fine for children (I enjoyed it more as a child!), but not really worth it for older readers.