Grimble

"Grimble" is a children's book published by Collins in 1968 and written by Clement Freud. A sequel, "Grimble at Christmas" was published some years later. The book was illustrated by Frank Francis. Both books are currently out of print.

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  Cover of the 1968 Edition

From the Dust Jacket

"What would you do if:

you did not have a fixed birthday? your parents usually communicated with you by notes? you came home from school on Monday to find that your parents had gone, without warning, to Peru?"

Plot

Grimble is a boy of "about 10" who has parents that can be described as eccentric. Returning from school one day, he discovers that they have gone to Peru for a week leaving him with a fridge filled with bottles of tea, an oven filled with sandwiches, a tin full of sixpence pieces and a list of five names & addresses of people he can visit to get help with dinner. Each day he visits a new address though on each occasion his host is out. The book is a humourous account of his life alone for five days.

Trivia

1. The book was read on the BBC children's television show "Jackanory" and (according to the dust jacket) Freud received 23500 letters about the work, including 64 letters of complaint from domestic science teachers who thought the book disgraceful.

2. Both JK Rowling and Lauren Child have cited the work as being a favourite book of theirs..

References

1. Grimble Page by "Robin" - http://www.robindey.com/grimble/grimblebook.htm

2. Lauren Child Interview - http://www.wattspub.co.uk/lchilob.htm

3. JK Rowling Interview - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000053461