Back to Front Benjy

by Dick King-Smith, Judy Brown (Illustrator)

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2001

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Sinead Mccormick]

Back-to-Front Benjy
Dick King Smith
This is a nice little story for year 5/6 children. It tells the story of Maggie and Bill Buttersworth who meet one day travelling backwards on the train. They go on to get married and have a little boy called Benjy. Benjy inherits their love of travelling backwards but goes further by doing everything backwards. His first steps are backwards and his first words are backwards. His parents are worried but bring him to school where he is asked to leave after a week because the other children have started to copy him. Benjy’s parents are distraught and don’t know what to do. His mother begins home schooling him and just as they have given up hope for Benjy he gets hit by a lightning bolt and begins to run forward. His parents are delighted that Benjy can now go on to live a normal life. There are a few more stories in this book ( The Hitmus-Potmus, Brown’s Bones, Little Liar) which I think would be ideal for children to read aloud in groups as there is plenty of conversation which would help them practise changing tone, voices etc…

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a excellent book for children that are learning to read.
Benji does everything back to front.

[Sarah Shanahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of 4 stories - Back-to-front-Benjy, The Hitmus-Potus, Brown's Bones and Little Liar. All of these have lessons to be learned from them.

Back-to-front-Benjy is the main story of this compilation and the fun shines through, Dick King-Smite takes a simple idea an amusing journey. The characters are well portrayed so that you have sympathy for Bill and Maggie's plight. You could argue that there is a deeper story within as Benjys` parents struggle to get him accepted at school and in the wider community despite his obvious differences. Fantastic illustrations from Judy Brown further break up the narrative. A sweet story of fun, determination and backwardness!


The Hitmus-Potmus
"Bartholomew Bean was a very rude boy. His favourite word was Shan`t."
Shan`t, shan`t, shan`t - How Mrs Bean was fed up of hearing that word from her son, Bartholomew. No matter what she asked him to do the answer was always shan`t! Uncle Runner was horrified by nephews rudeness, and set about teaching him a lesson. He told him the story of the Hitmus-Potmus from Mopotobutu, and its desire to gobble up rude little boys whole.
In under 1o pages Dick King-Smith manages to cram in a witty story with a moral attached.

Brown's Bones
A clever idea is built on so the reader gradually dislikes Brown more and more, and when he gets his comeuppance there is very little sympathy for him. Again this story holds a lesson within, treat people as you expect to be treated yourself.

Little Liar
"Lionel was a little liar!"
Lionel is a boy who seems incapable of telling the truth. He lied about washing his hands, he lied about being allowed cake before sandwiches and he lied that he was allowed as much as he wanted. After distracting his Aunt he shovelled biscuits and cakes into his mouth - sugar buns, brandy snaps and cream slices, and when his Auntie asked what had happened to them all he simply lied that he had not taken them! Sadly the huge amount of cakes he had consumed started making Lionel feel most unwell, and when his Auntie asked if he was going to be sick he said he wasn't. There is no real sympathy for the Lionel

Four stories of different lengths each with a hidden moral to be examined and discussed if needs be. The main story - Back-to-front Benjy - is a clever yet amazingly simple idea full of amusement and colour. Parts of the narrative are written backwards just to really give a glimpse of what Benjys` parents have to live with, the writing style is simple and unhurried. The other three stories are cleverly written in very few words.

I would recommend this book for KS1 and Yr 3 children.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly still think about this book to date, even though it must be over 15 years now since I read it. I don't know why. It keeps popping into my mind how the parents met driving backwards in the subway and how they kept thinking that it was their fault. And then one day Benjy just changes his mind, so reflective of children hahahah

[Clair Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rather entertaining read throughout. This book consists of three seperate stories. The first story demonstrates how children are born with unique differences, eventhough, we may look similiar. When reading this book all I kept imagining was my yr 1 class walking and talking backwards after this story had been read to them. The second story is a good read to those children who may find it difficult to learn manners and have lack of respect for others. I think this book could certainly plant a seed in their heads to get them thinking about developing manners. A good read for KS 1.

[Thisath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book I would recommend this book.There are three more fun storys in this book.

[Raahi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just Full of bizzare humour, really.

[R.]

its a witty, and unique plot. Humorous and unconventional, wasnt able to put it down for a second.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

179 - 2017