Chewing the Cud: An Extraordinary Life Remembered by the Author of Babe: The Gallant Pig [Hardcover]

Dick King-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

A candid and very funny memoir from beloved children’s book author Dick King-Smith.
Before he was a children’s book author, Dick King-Smith was a soldier, a farmer, a salesman, a factory worker, and a teacher. But he was always a devoted family man who loved the countryside he lived in and the animals he kept. In this insightful memoir, Dick King-Smith recounts the joys and failures of his life with equal humor and candor. And he remembers a delightful cast of animal characters–from Anna, the dachshund who turned out to be just stubborn, not deaf, to the 600-pound pig Monty, who liked to be scratched on top of his head, to Wilhelmina, a pet badger who was fond of love bites. As readers delight in recognizing the inspiration behind many of Dick King-Smith’s books, they’ll also see how a collection of experiences made a man a writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I wasn't a particularly good soldier or farmer or salesman or factory worker or teacher, but at last I've found something I can do reasonably well," concludes this warm and witty memoir by the author of Babe: The Gallant Pig and more than 100 other children's books. But how he arrived at his career as author makes for delectable fodder in this humorous and conversational volume, peppered with accomplished pen-and-inks by Horse (Little Rabbit Lost). King-Smith recounts an eventful life that spanned the greater part of the 20th century and is still going strong into the 21st. He traces his meandering career path recalling many comic moments during his years spent farming with his wife, Myrle (he confesses somewhat sheepishly, "For Myrle and me, life at Woodlands Farm was really an extension of our childhood pet keeping"). The pages brim with eccentric characters worthy of a P.G. Wodehouse novel (e.g., "Mr. Hamper was distinguishable from his larger pigs by virtue of wearing clothes and standing on his hind legs"). Children will particularly enjoy hearing of the many animals he has known, from the chameleons he collected on a WWII troop ship en route to Tripoli, to the hamsters he inadvertently bred (they escaped) at a manor-house-cum-agricultural-college, to the scores of cows, pigs, poultry, dogs and more that he raised. For kids from one to 92, these pages reveal a gifted writer with an affection for animals and a simple country life, a passion for his work, and sheer goodness of heart. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up-With candor, humor, and warmth, King-Smith relates the various experiences that led him to become, late in his life, a children's author. Although he flashes back to various points in his early years, the book focuses on his adult life, beginning with his desire to farm at age 18. He relates his inexperienced (and humorous) attempts at farming at Woodlands Farm after serving in World War II, the birth of his children, and the various jobs he held to support his family. In 1976, he began his first book, and the rest, shall we say, is history. Throughout his recollections, he includes vignettes of the various animal "friends" that made up a large part of his and his family's lives, and gives a picture of pre- and post-World War II England and its accompanying social history. Because the focus is on King-Smith's adult life, teachers and librarians will most likely be this book's most ardent readers, although older students needing an interesting autobiography might pick it up. A good choice for any library interested in collecting material that supports the study of children's literature and children's authors.
Jennifer Ralston, Harford County Public Library, Belcamp, MD
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (October 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375814590
• ISBN-13: 978-0375814594
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,648,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dick King-Smith was a farmer for twenty years before becoming a writer, and most of his animal stories are based on his farming experiences. He won the Guardian Award with The Sheep-Pig, which became the blockbuster film Babe. Dick lives in Gloucestershire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will more than do, October 27, 2005

By 

K. M. Wright "Bookworm" (Batavia, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chewing the Cud: An Extraordinary Life Remembered by the Author of Babe: The Gallant Pig (Hardcover)

If you have seen the movie "Babe" and been delighted by the characters and story, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. I listened to it on tape, and the reader was none other than the author himself, veddy English and likeable. Mr. King-Smith recounts his early years, his stint in the military, the courtship of his wife, the birth of his children and his various careers, including the longest one, that of being a farmer. From these experiences, mostly as a farmer, Mr. King-Smith built a reputation as a children's book author. I was sad to come to the end and longed for more. I hope Mr. King-Smith has another book like it in him; he could follow in the tradition of the much loved James Herriot. A simple memoir, for those of you who like them, full of nice people, animal stories, and the evidence of Mr. King-Smith's sweet nature. A short gem and a breath of fresh air.

4.0 out of 5 stars Warm and Wonderful, February 10, 2011

By 

Barbara Bartholomew "Barbara Bartholomew" (Carter, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Chewing the Cud: An Extraordinary Life Remembered by the Author of Babe: The Gallant Pig (Kindle Edition)

The best kind of memoir is the one that makes the reader feel, at the conclusion, that she or he has gotten to know the writer as a person. Dick King-Smith's book is a conversation with a good, kind-hearted friend who tells you without boasting about his life's success as a children's writer and his love for the farm life which proved to be not so successful (at least in a financial sense). His love for the farm animals that were the center of most of his books and a delightful sense of humor, usually exercized at his own expense, come through with total sincerity.

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and inspiring, September 29, 2008

By 

Jane Hinrichs "Writer and Ghost." (Blunt, SD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Chewing the Cud: An Extraordinary Life Remembered by the Author of Babe: The Gallant Pig (Hardcover)

Dick King-Smith is one of my favorite authors. He writes books that are for children but are equally enjoyed by adults. And this autobiography is no exception. Being a writer myself (though just a journalist right now -- an inspiring children's author one day) his book and his journey in becoming an author was so nice to read. He didn't start out as an author. It was a gradual thing.