Book 23: "The Signposters" by Helen Cresswell
Friday, June 10th, 2011 20:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittiwakePacing was the hardest part of Dyke's job, and the part that Hetty and Barley could not help him with at all. Their part was simply to wait. Every twenty years, by law, each road in Flockshire had to be re-paced and measured. If two villages were only a few miles apart, the job was done in a day or less. But sometimes the job took Dyke away for days on end. Flockshire was a big county - a tenth part of England, so they said - and you could walk for a day with never a hearth in sight.
Today's pacing had been only a small affair.The Signposters had left their winter quarters at Flock as dawn was breaking, and had reached the Straythorpe crossroads by noon. There Dyke's signpost was still standing from last year, only slightly leaning after the buffeting of winter storms.
This is a longer book for older children than the others, and was definitely my favourite out of the three. It is set sometime in the 19th century and starts one April, as Barley Signposter and her parents get back on the road, after spending the winter in their house in town. Barley loves their summer life, sleeping in tents (and the occasional cave) and travelling in a horse-drawn wagon. Her father Dyke makes his living repainting and repairing the county's signposts, and measuring the length of roads by counting his paces, furlong by furlong. And when he is inspired by a village with an interesting name, he gets great pleasure in adding ornate carvings to the signposts. But one of the main things that Dyke likes about his job, is that it gives him the chance to meet up with the other members of his large extended family, the Smiths, who are scattered throughout the county. And this year, Dyke and his stonemason brother Pen have a fantastic idea; to organise a family reunion and bring all the Flockshire Smiths together at the Michaelmas Fair.
This is a warm and joyful book, full of Barley's love of being outside in the summer countryside, and Dyke's belief in the importance of keeping in contact with family. It would be a good story to read to your kids if you are going to take them camping in the UK this summer, rather than going on holiday abroad.
Reviews of Books 21 to 23 cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge.
Today's pacing had been only a small affair.The Signposters had left their winter quarters at Flock as dawn was breaking, and had reached the Straythorpe crossroads by noon. There Dyke's signpost was still standing from last year, only slightly leaning after the buffeting of winter storms.
This is a longer book for older children than the others, and was definitely my favourite out of the three. It is set sometime in the 19th century and starts one April, as Barley Signposter and her parents get back on the road, after spending the winter in their house in town. Barley loves their summer life, sleeping in tents (and the occasional cave) and travelling in a horse-drawn wagon. Her father Dyke makes his living repainting and repairing the county's signposts, and measuring the length of roads by counting his paces, furlong by furlong. And when he is inspired by a village with an interesting name, he gets great pleasure in adding ornate carvings to the signposts. But one of the main things that Dyke likes about his job, is that it gives him the chance to meet up with the other members of his large extended family, the Smiths, who are scattered throughout the county. And this year, Dyke and his stonemason brother Pen have a fantastic idea; to organise a family reunion and bring all the Flockshire Smiths together at the Michaelmas Fair.
This is a warm and joyful book, full of Barley's love of being outside in the summer countryside, and Dyke's belief in the importance of keeping in contact with family. It would be a good story to read to your kids if you are going to take them camping in the UK this summer, rather than going on holiday abroad.
Reviews of Books 21 to 23 cross-posted to
50bookchallenge.
