Monday, February 9, 2009

Books on cricket, the Noodle's happiness

The Noodle has been pretty well obsessed with cricket since he first laid eyes on the Boxing Day Test on the telly in 2007. The obsession has been nurtured collaboratively with several other little boys at school during 2008. Anything to do with cricket is, without any kind of critical engagement from the lad, a Good Thing. So we have Ricky Ponting Cricket Captain computer game, another cricket computer game, 2 cricket sets and a cricket batting practice gadget and 2 cricket card games. But what we mostly have is cricket-related kids books. And there are just not enough of them.

One of his favourites is the Toby Jones series (written 'with' Brett Lee). This involves time travel, Wisden's, cricketing hints and adventures to stop the bad guy (who doesn't seem aware of his bad guy status in a refreshing change) from profiteering from cricket matches past. I can't quite sustain reading these books myself, so I have to rely on the Noodle's detailed retelling of the plot points. He can read them over and over again.

More recently he has also discovered the Glory Gardens series. When he was reading one yesterday he was actually gurgling with laughter. I think the books may be a choking hazard. These are definitely for cricket tragics only, with instructions on how to keep score, diagrams on good batting technique and other stuff that non-cricketing mothers can only muster up an 'uh-huh' sort of noise when confronted with. They also feature someone who is hopeless at cricket but is never dropped from the team because of last minute, hilarious accidents of catches, useful singles and so on. Not so much saving the day as saving oneself from embarrassment. Having made one of these miraculous catches myself as a young feller, I can sympathise.

Now that the weather has cooled down a touch I suppose we'll be able to get out and hit the ball with the bat a little more. So perhaps there'll be less reading (and detailed retelling) of stories, and more action.

I haven't mentioned the non-fiction titles, because otherwise I will have to start reciting career statistics of 1940s Yorkshire bowlers. And as this is information I do not wish to know myself, I think it would be recklessly unkind to share it here.

Thank heavens it's nearly footy season.

4 comments:

Zoe said...

Hi there - have fallen down woefully on organising blogger picnic, and not even contacted &Duck.

Also, I am a bit crook and feeling so for myself, so will reschedule soon. Sorry.

PATRICK BASS said...

I have liked your blog. I will come again to your site. Keep it up!The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live.

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