What do you think?
Rate this book
Uncle #2
Uncle Cleans Up
It is a time of rejoicing at Homeward, the Labyrinthine castle-city that is as magical as Oz and as full of wonders as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Uncle, the wise, kind, generous, and fabulously rich elephant who rules over Homeward, has joined with his many friends to celebrate their triumph over the ruffians in neighbouring Badfort.Still, there's plenty of cleaning up to do in the waterworks are tainted with vinegar, housing is scarce, and the Dwarftown Railway is terribly overcrowded - meanwhile the Badfort crowd has devised its most diabolical plan yet. Uncle will need all the help he can get from his faithful assistant Old Monkey and from Goodman the literate cat-and possibly a wizard's spell - to get through this mess.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1965
2 people are currently reading
76 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.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 26, 2014
Introduces my favourite literary cat – Goodman!
August 13, 2017
Childhood re-read. Great stuff.
July 3, 2022
Not the best in the series but fun
September 11, 2025
I just love Uncle. I love that he is so rightly shown up by the Badford Crowd so often.
The bicycle thief!
The bicycle thief!
sony-or-android
August 21, 2016rec'd as 'for fans of' The Pushcart War and The Wonderful O, both of which I have long loved and often reread...
April 7, 2014
This is a cracking good tale about my favourite rich elephant Uncle. A classic!
January 24, 2016
Last read December 2014
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews