Wings (by Terry Pratchett)

(Amazon UK link)

It had been a long time since I last read any of Terry Pratchett’s ‘Bromeliad’ series. They are intended for children, but enjoyable by adults too. So I was pleased when my eight-year-old grandson asked me to read ‘Wings’ to him. He’s heard it before, but apparently it’s his favourite of the three books. The other two in the series are ‘Truckers’ and ‘Diggers’. I last read them, as well as 'Wings', back in 2008.

It’s best to have read at least ‘Truckers’ before this book, but since I remembered the story, I didn’t mind just reading ‘Wings’. The background is that some outdoor ‘nomes’ (who bear no resemblance at all to the plastic creatures sold in some garden centres) were struggling to survive. They hitched a lift on the back of a truck, and found themselves at a huge department store.

There they discovered tribes of indoor nomes, who had no idea that anyone could exist outside. The store nomes had developed a kind of structure, almost a theology, revolving around the store creator, the legendary ‘Arnold Bros’. Much of this section goes over the head of a child, but I found it very amusing when I first read it.

In ‘Wings’, the nomes have heard from their black box, a kind of ancient nomic computer, that they need to travel to Florida so it can get in touch with a spaceship that’s been waiting for nomes for many centuries. Not exactly an easy undertaking for people who are just six inches high, and unknown to humanity, but with the leadership skills of Masklin and the assistance - or otherwise - of a couple of other nomes, they make it.

There’s also an entirely different storyline, in typical Pratchett style, involving some tree frogs… again, this makes slightly more sense after having read the earlier books, but I’m pretty sure when I first read ‘Wings’ I didn’t make the connection until it was explained. The trees where the frogs live are bromeliads - hence the unlikely name given to the series of books.

The writing is excellent, the story quite exciting even when we knew the outcome, and in places there’s some gentle humour, which I very much appreciated. My grandson didn’t understand all the references, but laughed out loud a few times. I’m sure as he matures, and maybe reads it for himself, he’ll appreciate it all the more.

Definitely recommended, but read ‘Truckers’ first, and ideally ‘Diggers’ too. For children of all ages….

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