I have simply loved all of Gervase Phinn's other books and Up and Down in the Dales is no different.
Gervase is back as the school inspector working in God's own county and encountering the "delightful" children that the region's schools are trying to educate. This time round though he is acutely aware of the impact of a child's home-life on how they perform at school. Gervase's wife Christine is expecting their first child and he is determined to make sure that this child has every possible head start when he or she enters the education system.
As ever the book is filled with delightful Yorkshire characters and the tales that some of them come out with are quite simply priceless! I will warn you though that some knowledge of Yorkshire dialect is required to ensure that you get all of the jokes in the book. Maybe it's a sign that I've been down south too long when one of the punchlines went straight over my head…
Dav says
By some fluke of randomness, this just filtered to the top of my wobbly big pile o’ books ™ and so far it’s reading pretty well 🙂
Denise says
I have met this chap and he is wonderful! The stories are all based around here so I read with great interest. One day I will write a book of my days spent teaching! There are 25 to pick from!
Mrs C says
He does sound completely wonderful. I remember him speaking once at a school prize giving and he was fantastic.
You definitely should write about your days teaching – Id love to hear about them.