Jim Starling

Jim Starling is the central character of a series of seven books [ [http://histclo.com/lit/uk/js/js-ser.html Jim Starling Series] ] for young people written by Edmund Wallace Hildick [http://histclo.com/lit/uk/litukjs.html] . Each book in the series details an episode in the lives of four close friends, Jim, Terry, Nip and Goggles, who call themselves the Last Apple Gang. They are all pupils at a boy's secondary modern school in the town of "Smogbury" in the north of England: for example,going down to London to watch Burnley in the 1962 FA Cup Final.

In order of publication, the books are
* "Jim Starling" (1958)
* "Jim Starling and the Agency" (1958)
* "Jim Starling and the Colonel" (1960)
* "Jim Starling's Holiday" (1960)
* "Jim Starling Takes Over" (1963)
* "Jim Starling and the Spotted Dog" (1963)
* "Jim Starling Goes To Town" (1963

None of the books have been published since 1971. [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk Amazon UK] ]

Assessment

During the time that they were readily available to young readers (in the children's section of the nation's public libraries)) opinion was sharply divided on the series' merit: some praised them for their social realism [Townsend,J.R: Written for children(Harmondsworth), Kestrel Books, (1974). p 368. ISBN 0 7226 5466 9. [http://www.rambles.net/townsend_written.html ] ] but others believed they stereotyped working-class childhood [Dixon, Bob: Catching them Young- Sex, Race and Class in Children's Fiction London, Pluto Press (1977) p91 ISBN 0 904383 50 4]

References

External links

* [http://histclo.com/lit/uk/js/js-ser.html Jim Starling Series]