Ninnyhammer

Ninnyhammer

Summary

Peter is a young boy, living on a farm. One day, whilst out doing chores for his father, he comes across a strange white stick floating in the stream. He reaches out and catches it - and finds an exciting new friend in the process. Ninnyhammer is the local village simpleton, but Peter knows there's more to him than that - he's a magician and the white stick is his magic wand. Ninnyhammer is so grateful that he starts to help Peter and his family with their struggling farm - making the sow have more piglets, helping the corn to grow faster and the hens to lay twice as many eggs. But Peter wants to do something for Ninnyhammer in return. Can it really be right that his friend has to bed down in a hole with foxcubs? And can Peter persuade his dad to help...?

Reviews

  • Traditional, turn-of-the-century rural life is beautifully rendered and the friendship between the young boy and the old man is touchingly betrayed . . . The real magic of this book, however, lies in its enchanting evocation of the wonder of nature
    Inis

About the author

Dick King-Smith

Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the county of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. Later he taught at a village primary school. His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978. He wrote a great number of children’s books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), Harry’s Mad, Noah’s Brother, The Queen’s Nose, Martin’s Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child and Harriet’s Hare (winner of the Children’s Book Award in 1995). At the British Book Awards in 1991 he was voted Children’s Author of the Year. In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to children’s literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight. Discover more about Dick King-Smith at: dickkingsmith.com
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