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Uncle #1
Uncle
If you think Babar is the only storybook elephant with a cult following, then you haven’t met Uncle, the presiding pachyderm of a wild fictional universe that has been collecting accolades from children and adults for going on fifty years. Unimaginably rich, invariably swathed in a magnificent purple dressing-gown, Uncle oversees a vast ramshackle castle full of friendly kooks while struggling to fend off the sneak attacks of the incorrigible (and ridiculous) Badfort Crowd. Each Uncle story introduces a new character from Uncle’s madcap Signor Guzman, careless keeper of the oil lakes; Noddy Ninety, an elderly train conductor and the oldest student of Dr. Lyre’s Select School for Young Gentlemen; the proprietors of Cheapman’s Store (where motorbikes are a halfpenny each) and Dearman’s Store (where the price of an old milk jug goes up daily); along with many others. But for every delightful friend of Uncle, there is a foe who is no less deliriously wicked. Luckily the misbegotten schemes of the Badfort Crowd are no match for Uncle’s superior wits.Quentin Blake’s quirky illustrations are the perfect complement to J.P. Martin’s stories, each one of a perfect length for bedtime reading. Lovers of Roald Dahl and William Steig will rejoice in Uncle’s wonderfully bizarre and happy world, where the good guys always come out on top, and once a year, everybody, good and bad, sits down together for an enormous Christmas feast.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
8 people are currently reading
740 people want to read
About the author
J.P. Martin
21 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
J.P. Martin (1879-1966) was born in Yorkshire into a family of Methodist ministers. He took up the family vocation, serving when young as a missionary to a community of South African diamond miners and then, during the First World War, as an Army chaplain in Palestine and Egypt, before returning to minister to parishes throughout the north of England. He died at eighty-six from a flu caught while bringing pots of honey to his parishioners in cold weather. Martin began telling Uncle stories to entertain his children, who later asked him to write them down so that they could read them to their own children; the stories were finally published as a book in 1964, when Martin was eighty-four. The jacket to the first edition of Uncle notes that “the inspiration for these stories seems to come from the industrial landscape that [Martin] knew as a child….He still likes to take his family and friends on walks through industrial scenes. He also enjoys painting the wild and beautiful landscape where he lives. It is not enough to say he loves children; he is still continually visited by them.”
J.P. Martin (1879-1966) was born in Yorkshire into a family of Methodist ministers. He took up the family vocation, serving when young as a missionary to a community of South African diamond miners and then, during the First World War, as an Army chaplain in Palestine and Egypt, before returning to minister to parishes throughout the north of England. He died at eighty-six from a flu caught while bringing pots of honey to his parishioners in cold weather. Martin began telling Uncle stories to entertain his children, who later asked him to write them down so that they could read them to their own children; the stories were finally published as a book in 1964, when Martin was eighty-four. The jacket to the first edition of Uncle notes that “the inspiration for these stories seems to come from the industrial landscape that [Martin] knew as a child….He still likes to take his family and friends on walks through industrial scenes. He also enjoys painting the wild and beautiful landscape where he lives. It is not enough to say he loves children; he is still continually visited by them.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 5, 2015
As a child, I adored the Uncle books, which chronicle the adventures of a fabulously wealthy and endearingly pompous elephant who rules over the vast and ramshackle kingdom of Homeward while wearing a purple dressing gown.
J.P. Martin’s descriptions of the ongoing battles between Uncle’s loyal followers and their enemies at Badfort capture perfectly the spirit of English schoolboys in which one side is continuously waging war against the other side, simply because they are the other side — and no doubt stinky rotters to boot.
What’s not to love about a book populated by such bizarre characters as the Wooden-Legged Donkey, whose leg “has a small receptacle at the end for cash, tickets, etc.”? Or the music teacher Maestro, who attempts to throw himself out the window when he hears a false note, but on realising that he is on the ground floor, “looked rather sheepish, but contented himself with screaming a little”? Or Old Whitebeard (Hated by Both Sides), whose voice:
“seems to have some kind of sickening effect, for the moment you hear it you feel rather ill, or at any rate seedy and depressed”?
My edition of Uncle, published by the New York Review Children’s Collection, includes an introduction by the author’s grandson. It seems that in creating the world of Uncle, J.P. Martin drew on some of the surreal episodes in his own life. A Methodist Minister, he once mediated a dispute between the local gypsies, which began when “one part of the family left a stuffed leopard on the doorstep of the other half”.
The author’s grandson also noted that it took about 30 years for the first Uncle book to be published in 1964, because its rumbustious sense of humour “offended the genteel ladies and gentlemen who used to monopolise children’s book publishing”. The fact that the books were written during the Great Depression may explain their focus on material wealth and food — on special occasions, Uncle wears diamond trunk tips, gold-studded boots, and “a special purple dressing gown embroidered with gold and rubies”, and often gives his friends generous presents such as “sixty-five pounds of corned beef in five-pound tins”.
As a child, I thrilled to such descriptions of excess; as an adult, I found them somewhat repetitive. Then I reached Chapter 11, in which Uncle and his friends visit Owl Springs, hoping to see the reclusive owl. This chapter contains the most delightful passage in the book:
“From behind a low bush on the left, the owl appeared. He flew straight to a withered twig, and sat there looking at them… For twenty minutes the owl stayed, minutes filled with rapture. Then it gave a low hoot, preened its feathers and slowly flew off…Uncle said nothing for a long time. He was so full of solemn joy. At last he drew a deep breath. ‘Gratification,’ he said, ‘is a poor word to express my feelings at this moment… I want to travel back quietly, reflecting deeply on this glorious hour, and fixing its details in my memory.’”
My major criticism of Uncle is that there is no story arc; each chapter describes one of Uncle’s adventures as he travels to another part of Homeward and meets yet more eccentric characters. As charming as the stories were, I never wanted to keep reading to find out “what happens next”.
My rating: 5★ for children
4★ for adults
November 24, 2013
Roughly, a comic version of Ayn Rand written for seven year olds. If you're an Objectivist parent or just want to explain the advantages of laissez-faire capitalism, get your kid started on it without delay.
__________________________
I had forgotten how funny this book is (I last read it when I was about eight). Other people may also appreciate the letter Uncle receives in Chapter 3 from the citizens of Badfort:
__________________________
I had forgotten how funny this book is (I last read it when I was about eight). Other people may also appreciate the letter Uncle receives in Chapter 3 from the citizens of Badfort:
To Uncle, the arch-humbug, impostor, and bully.
Yesterday your worst deeds were out-done. When you got us all spouted into the moat, you thought you had done something clever. Well, you've just done yourself in by that foul, atrocious action. We give you three days in which to repent.
If at the end of that time you make your appearance at Badfort, with a bag containing a thousand gold pieces, and with a written apology in your hand, we will pardon you.
Otherwise, we will attack your miserable old castle, and you yourself will know what it means to be imprisoned and publicly tortured.
We are signing this at midnight in our own blood. Our trusty messenger, Jellytussle, brings this.
We hope that we shall see him again alive, and if we don't, we shan't worry, as he's too inclined to be polite in giving his challenges.
BEAVER HATEMAN
NAILROD HATEMAN
FILLJUG HATEMAN
SIGISMUND HATEMAN
J. HAWKINS FLABSKIN
ISIDORE HITMOUSE
WILLIAM MUD-DOG
MALLET CRACKBONE
J. MERRYWEATHER OILER (OILY JOE)
H. SLIMEGROVE BINNS
JOSEPH SKINNS
And at the bottom, in thin, shadowy, spidery writing, Uncle could just make out the faint signature:
FIRLON HOOTMAN
March 22, 2012
I have to say that my eight-year-old son likes this a lot more than I do. Though he’s fabulously wealthy and lives in a Disneyland all his own, I found Uncle himself unlikeable. The constant introduction of new characters is exhausting. The unexplained our-team / their-team rivalry between Uncle’s friends at Homeward and the Badfort crowd carries weird capitalist/socialist overtones. For me, any comparison of Martin’s Uncle to the books of Roald Dahl and William Steig just falls flat.
January 3, 2015
I absolutely LOVED the Uncle books as a child .. which I took completely at face value at the age of 8 or so ( too long ago for me to remember precisely when I encountered them). So for instance, it didn't even dawn on me then that aside from being an elephant in a purple dressing gown, rather than being the hero of every hour, Uncle is actually a snobbish, pompous, benevolent tyrant. I've recently reread a couple of the stories and still find them hilarious, but probably for rather different reasons. Gloriously un-PC, don't supposed these books would even get published today on 'elf-n-safety grounds. Viva Jellytussle and Beaver Hateman!
November 16, 2015
I admit I gave up half way through. Uncle is a mercurial and eccentric tyrant and I didn't like him or his empire one bit.
I think I lack the English Nonsense Appreciation Gene because I can't bear Spike Milligan's children's books either.
Perhaps it's the lack of actual connection between characters and way the seeming randomness of plot and detail suggest an absence of the writing craft that I admire in someone like Aiken.
Philip Ardagh has the eccentric nonsense flavour but uses it together with careful plot and character development so he became an acquired taste for me.
My kids would probably find Uncle pretty funny (10 and 12) but I'm not sure they'll fit him into their busy reading schedule :)
Forgot to mention that I'll keep my copy because of the excellent Blake illustrations which employ fingerprints and splatter as the tone and are printed in pure black.
I think I lack the English Nonsense Appreciation Gene because I can't bear Spike Milligan's children's books either.
Perhaps it's the lack of actual connection between characters and way the seeming randomness of plot and detail suggest an absence of the writing craft that I admire in someone like Aiken.
Philip Ardagh has the eccentric nonsense flavour but uses it together with careful plot and character development so he became an acquired taste for me.
My kids would probably find Uncle pretty funny (10 and 12) but I'm not sure they'll fit him into their busy reading schedule :)
Forgot to mention that I'll keep my copy because of the excellent Blake illustrations which employ fingerprints and splatter as the tone and are printed in pure black.
July 30, 2012
So much owed to J.P Martin by the likes of Dahl and Ian Fleming ( Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, not Bond!).
In Uncle's realm, you will meet eccentric villains who need the Hero, our beloved Uncle-- to fill their time with plans for mayhem and marauding-as much as the Hero needs them in order to conquer, vanquish and be heroic.
One of my standards for a fine children's book is, does the book begin with a map and or list of characters? Uncle has both. This is possibly the finest read-aloud ever for multiple children aged between 5 and 12.
In Uncle's realm, you will meet eccentric villains who need the Hero, our beloved Uncle-- to fill their time with plans for mayhem and marauding-as much as the Hero needs them in order to conquer, vanquish and be heroic.
One of my standards for a fine children's book is, does the book begin with a map and or list of characters? Uncle has both. This is possibly the finest read-aloud ever for multiple children aged between 5 and 12.
June 11, 2007
I recommend this whole series very highly, if you can get your hands on it, but sadly, several of them are currently out of print. This first one was reissued only very recently, so there's hope. Uncle is a crazy Oxford-educated elephant and his best friend is a monkey. There is a thinly veiled (well, if you're an adult reader) anti-imperialist subtext and the illustrations are by Quentin Blake. What more could you want?!?
August 24, 2018
Have you ever seen an eight-year-old create a story? They come up with an idea, then expound upon it, adding details in an emerging narrative stream of consciousness. Logic and reality take a backseat to the flow of the story and all those silly details.
J.P. Martin managed to channel his inner eight-year-old for this entertaining book.
It's about a fabulously wealthy elephant named Uncle who rules his house named Homeward, which is also a sky-scraper city. He is rich because of all the dwarves who pay rent in all those sky-scrapers apartments. To get around those tenements are all sorts of devices ranging from traction engines to rivers to springboards, plus an escalator or two. Or you can just take a train. Or maybe a secret passage, if you know about it. Homeward might have been created by a wizard, but the details are a little vague.
Uncle is at times peevish and cheap, yet also generous. He is aided by his employee Old Monky, Rudolph the hunter and others.
Uncle's existence would be paradise except for the Badfort crew living in the next fortress over. It seems Beaver Hateman, Nailrod Hateman and the Wooden-Legged Donkey do not like Uncle.
This leads to the two sides playing nasty pranks on each other, some of which would result in nasty death if this story were founded on any sort of logic or reality.
But again, logic is in short supply. Don't bother trying to figure out the ecnomics of Homeward, or the energy requirements of that city, or the British class distinctions between Uncle and the Hatemen clan. Just go along with the ride. Also realize that neither Uncle nor the Hatemen crew are the best role models, just in case your children should ask.
June 13, 2015
Uncle is our 1001 Children's Books You Must Read book group's latest read. It's a book that never appeared on my radar until I saw it on this list. It's a story, I suspect, that kids will love more than adults, but, as I'm the rare adult who hasn't quite grown up yet, I adored it. Uncle is an elephant and he and his friends are fighting a constant guerrilla war with a group of his enemies who are jealous of Uncle's power and influence and riches. It's very, very fun, with each group pranking the other, slinging little arrows at the other, and just trying to get the other group to yield and cry...well, uncle.
October 11, 2009
Crazy fun with wicked villains like Beaver Hateman who live in Badfort, Uncle the Elephant who lives in a castle so large he hasn't seen all of it, and fun minor characters like Old Monkey and Goodman the cat. Love the illustrations by Quentin Blake.
July 12, 2018
A fun little book with many opportunities for teachable moments. A very English book in terms of aristocracy and class. I could see kids rooting for the the Hatemen as they are such a loveable "enemy".
April 14, 2009
What isn't there to like about a cult book by a methodist minister starring an insanely rich elephant in a purple dressing-gown?
I found out that there was plenty not to like about _Uncle_. All the way to the ending I was busy trying to pinpoint why it didn't meet with my expectations. I was supposed to enjoy this, and I didn't. Why?! What went wrong?
At first I thought it was me. Maybe I couldn't really get into the story, because I wasn't focused enough.
But then I realized that the fault is in Martin's writing. Plainly said: I think it's the work of an amateur. A good amateur, but an amateur nonetheless. The episodes collected in this book started out as stories that Martin told to his children. I have a feeling that they lost power once they were put in writing. Things that may work orally may not work on paper.
For instance, introducing several new characters every episode. At some point you would like that to stop and see them interact in a way that makes them more than the set of 'eccentric' traits they start out with. But they don't and remain flat. I felt that I should like them, because, well, they're ECCENTRIC!––but I couldn't. None of them came alive.
The story is simple: most chapters consist of Uncle and his entourage visiting a part of his surroundings, and his 'subjects' therein. His dwelling is vast and filled with places to discover, a cross between a castle and Manhattan. Outside it live the have-nots called the Badfort Crowd. Led by sack-clothed Beaver Hateman, they try to make Uncle's life as miserable as possible. But although they're sworn enemies they do go swimming and celebrate Christmas together. (This I liked.) Their constant threat to the status quo binds the separate episodes together and provides the climax. Very nice. And predictable.
Martin's descriptions are wildly uneven. Some scenes are etched in your brain like colourful dreams. But often the writing is so sloppy that you have a hard time visualizing the scenes. Sweet Tower, recalling _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ (also published in 1964), is visited by Uncle and the boys from Dr. Lyre's school. "They were rather amused, when they arrived at a big hall at the very top, to find Noddy Ninety was playing cricket." They watch him bowl with aniseed drops. "After that they went up to the boiled-sweet room. This is a perfectly enormous place right at the top of the tower."
So they arrive in a big hall at the very top, then they go up again, to arrive at the very top.
Elsewhere you wonder whether someone is outside the window or in the room. Or, how it's possible to throw something from outside to someone inside without breaking a window. Maybe it was open? Martin doesn't tell. Nor does he explain why there is a *street* in Auntie's flat. Etc. etc.
Quentin Blake's illustrations are okay. I would have preferred them in colour.
I found out that there was plenty not to like about _Uncle_. All the way to the ending I was busy trying to pinpoint why it didn't meet with my expectations. I was supposed to enjoy this, and I didn't. Why?! What went wrong?
At first I thought it was me. Maybe I couldn't really get into the story, because I wasn't focused enough.
But then I realized that the fault is in Martin's writing. Plainly said: I think it's the work of an amateur. A good amateur, but an amateur nonetheless. The episodes collected in this book started out as stories that Martin told to his children. I have a feeling that they lost power once they were put in writing. Things that may work orally may not work on paper.
For instance, introducing several new characters every episode. At some point you would like that to stop and see them interact in a way that makes them more than the set of 'eccentric' traits they start out with. But they don't and remain flat. I felt that I should like them, because, well, they're ECCENTRIC!––but I couldn't. None of them came alive.
The story is simple: most chapters consist of Uncle and his entourage visiting a part of his surroundings, and his 'subjects' therein. His dwelling is vast and filled with places to discover, a cross between a castle and Manhattan. Outside it live the have-nots called the Badfort Crowd. Led by sack-clothed Beaver Hateman, they try to make Uncle's life as miserable as possible. But although they're sworn enemies they do go swimming and celebrate Christmas together. (This I liked.) Their constant threat to the status quo binds the separate episodes together and provides the climax. Very nice. And predictable.
Martin's descriptions are wildly uneven. Some scenes are etched in your brain like colourful dreams. But often the writing is so sloppy that you have a hard time visualizing the scenes. Sweet Tower, recalling _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ (also published in 1964), is visited by Uncle and the boys from Dr. Lyre's school. "They were rather amused, when they arrived at a big hall at the very top, to find Noddy Ninety was playing cricket." They watch him bowl with aniseed drops. "After that they went up to the boiled-sweet room. This is a perfectly enormous place right at the top of the tower."
So they arrive in a big hall at the very top, then they go up again, to arrive at the very top.
Elsewhere you wonder whether someone is outside the window or in the room. Or, how it's possible to throw something from outside to someone inside without breaking a window. Maybe it was open? Martin doesn't tell. Nor does he explain why there is a *street* in Auntie's flat. Etc. etc.
Quentin Blake's illustrations are okay. I would have preferred them in colour.
August 12, 2007
A book that delights in sheer anarchy. Just look at how it begins: "Uncle is an elephant. He's immensely rich, and he's a BA. He dresses well, generally in a purple dressing-gown, and often rides about on a traction engine, which he prefers to a car." And after this paragraph, the novel gets strange. Hilarious and original and, well, it's a shame it's out of print save in a snooty NYR of Books edition.
September 11, 2017
I wasn't entirely convinced that this is a children's classic. Perhaps it was the enthusiasm with which I was urged to read it that made me expect more. It might be an entirely different experience reading it to a child.
I just didn't care what happened to any of the characters and didn't really find any of the adventures particularly interesting.
I just didn't care what happened to any of the characters and didn't really find any of the adventures particularly interesting.
April 30, 2008
Didn't love this as much as I'd hoped.
January 5, 2009
Right now it's helping to further my pachyderm painting state of mind.
Want to read
June 2, 2010Part of the New York Review Children's Collection.
January 25, 2013
Still own my childhhod copy - its comfort reading thst I retrun to regularly.
Read
November 29, 2013This book is the reason I got VERY confused about "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." as a child.
October 19, 2015
I found this very entertaining. I love Homeward and Old Monkey.
March 14, 2016
As a fan of works like Alice in Wonderland, Phantom Tollbooth, and The 13 Clocks, I expected to love this one, but it just fell flat for me.
March 17, 2017
My favourite book growing up, a fantastical adventure. I loved every moment. It really fired my imagination and really started my affection for reading.
May 1, 2019
A rich elephant riches it up while also being irritated by his poor, trashy neighbors. How is this a fun book for kids, again? The only redeeming quality = the illustrations by Quentin Blake.
March 2, 2025
Still the best!
May 21, 2025
I think it is first fair to say that I only read some passages here and there and skimmed the rest. I was so excited for this one, and even waited til I was in the mood for something light and whimsical, but I just found all the mentions of money and figures and bills and tabulations to be incredibly dull, the social structure of the entire community condescending and stupid, and the names and descriptions of the characters so boring and unmemorable (with a few exceptions) that I had a hard time caring about any of them. Any tiny bits of delightfulness were so completely overshadowed by the aforementioned attributes that reading this book felt like searching for sweets after they got buried in mud by the Hatemen clan. Not worth it.
January 10, 2024
I loved these books as a child - both the Quentin Blake illustrations and the somewhat surreal characters - so thought I would see what I felt about them 50 years on. My feelings are mixed. I still love the illustrations and still appreciate the oddness of the characters and the stories. I'm not sure they stand up to a modern audience in the way that some other classics from my childhood do (eg Alan Garner, John Masefield, Susan Cooper). Perhaps now I need a bit more of a sustained plot; but I'm delighted they are back in print and hope they do find more fans.
January 11, 2020
What is it about a high proportion of British humor that dies as it crosses the Atlantic? Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll sail safely over, as does Roald Dahl, but this? Ugh. No understando. I just don't get it. If you find names like Hawkins Flabskin witty, if Babble Trout oil amuses you, if heavy-handed tricks and fights are your cup of tea, be my guest. This bored me to pieces.
April 22, 2025
The first book in a popular children's series from the 1960s, Uncle follows an elephant who is very wealthy and wears a purple dressing gown. Each chapter follows a new short adventure and well illustrated by Quentin Blake. It can get repetitive after a while with character interactions but there is still some charm to the story.
July 17, 2024
Not my favourite book, I found it a very disjointed read. Had seen quite a few folk recommend it, which is why I bought it. Although it may be one of the few books I own that will find itself off to a new home.
April 19, 2019
I can see how children might really enjoy this book. It really wasn’t my style. Too fantastic and frenetic. But cute for all that!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews