Book Review: St Davids Day is Cancelled

Lorna Herbert Egan

With a striking title and comic cartoons, this primary school story by Wendy White shows how pupil power, combined with vital staff support, can provide the ideal formula for a successful event.

Seren Wen Rees, feisty editor and agony aunt of the school newspaper, (also called Seren Wen), leads her editorial team of lively classmates in this engaging and entertaining novel.

Why?

So why might St. David’s Day be cancelled?

Head teacher Mrs Right is so disappointed with the poor quality and lack of enthusiasm for previous St David’s Day activities at her school that she secretly decides to cancel any further celebrations of Wales’s patron saint, arranging for her reverend husband to give a talk instead.

Needless to say, the editing team of Seren Wen decide that this cannot be allowed to happen, and with the help of teachers and fellow pupils they organise a range of fitting events which everyone contributes to and enjoys – even Sneaky Sid and Sneaky Sandra.

Wendy White, author of English language 2014 Tir Na n-Og Prize Winner, illustrated by Helen Flook, knows her readership well and is adept at creating believable, if larger than life scenarios and characters which are both appealing and satisfying.

In terms of readability, the first-person narrative, language and contemporary style of the chapters, broken up into manageable sections by witty newspaper headlines and subtitles, would work well for the classroom as well as for individual reading, and the book is populated with expressive ink drawings by Huw Aaron which further enliven and support the text.

(In these politically correct times some may not be quite comfortable with the portrayal of the outsize Mrs Right and the false teeth jokes etc, but here the traditions of Beano and Dandy live on.)

Celebration

This is a fun book, with its impression that the independent kids are in charge, but in a teaching context it also provides opportunities for discussing the significance of celebrations, including national saints’ days and fitting activities, with the writer’s light touch allowing plenty of scope to explore aspects of the Curriculum Cymreig in Wales, or other festivals elsewhere.

It also lends itself to the organising and production of a school newspaper with its gamut of features – or it could just be read for its entertainment value …

This is a welcome addition to the bookshelf.

This is a review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Books Council of Wales.