Uncle - Red Fox Summer Collection: Uncle and Uncle Cleans Up

This is a lovely book; dated for sure, but the most wonderful escapist nonsense!

I loved this book as a child and was delighted when I tracked it down on Amazon. Uncle is the super-wealthy king of a bizarre world: a pompous, rather bullying, vain individual who still manages to have his heart in more or less the right place. As an adult though I seem to have more sympathy for his arch enemy, Beaver Hateman, and his gang. It's the kind of book you can read to your kids and enjoy as a grown-up at the same time. Recommended.

Great stories, full of imagination, wonderful dialoge, Loved re reading a childhood favorite,, Great reading, for any age, Adult or child,

Just as wonderful as the first time I read it... many many years ago.... but a lot more surreal than I recall.

I originally bought these in a bargain bin in some book shop many years ago. They were really excellent. You can enjoy them for the excellent story alone or for the US vs Soviet allegory. The books I bought in the bargain bin are a bit over-loved now so I bought this combined version to replace them.

This book is very creepy. Why it's being reprinted today is incomprehensible. It is so ideologically loaded that it doesn't classify as children's fiction but as a vintage propaganda curio. The cover quotes The Observer, of all things, trumpeting it as a 'classic of the nonesense tradtion'. I know the deal with review quotations, but this one is just utterly bizarre. Uncle is a baron who lives off rents, giving his subordinates sporadic presents while at the same time taking money in barrel loads and living a life of unconstrained consumption. He loves the war that's going on with the Batford crowd (a snide caricature of landless peasants). In which world is this a hero for today's children?While it rambles along nicely, perhaps lacking a considered narrative structure, it keeps on delivering these creepy references to class conflict, the benevolence of the wealthy, the sordidness of anyone outside of the ruling circle, the wonders of wealth and consumption. No wonder it was recommended by The Economist.

I first discovered these stories whilst in the library besides Keats House in Keats Grove in London (small but perfectly formed). Of all the books I read as a child this series of stories stayed with me and images pop up at the oddest times (e.g oil lakes and matches during the first gulf war) It surprised me to read the total (manic?) enthusiasm for tales pored out in these reviews, I thought I was the only one who still retained it! Thank you Red Fox, one for me and one for my God daughter.

If you read any review of these magical books you'll be struck by the lasting impression that J.P.Martin's creation has made upon people for over 30 years. Like many others, I first read the books in the early 70's. I have read them time and time again - as a child and adult. The wonder, creativity and enchantment is as fresh today as ever. Quentin Blake's superb illustrations infuse the storylines with a scratchy, gritty spell that perfectly matches the world Martin created. If you have ever dreamed of mysterious towers linked by switchback railways, secret passages, ghosts, mysterious talking animals, vast oil lakes looked after by a cigar smoking Italian in a gondola (yes - really!), unicorns, baddies made of jelly like substances, mice with skewers. . . then these books will entrance and captivate you.Someday, someone, somewhere will realise that the Uncle stories will make the most wonderful films. I hope I am still here to see that day!In the meantime - as with all my compatriot reviewers - get these books by hook or by crook. Their magic will never leave you . . . .