posted on 20 Sep 2015

Mr Cleghorn's Seal by Judith Kerr

This well loved author and illustrator continues to produce wonderful stories that depict a cosy uncomplicated world loosely based on incidents from her own life. This one has far more text than is usual, but is thankfully still peppered with her distinctive boldly drawn very familiar characters who are surely related to both the family in her earlier classic'The Tiger who comes to Tea' and also that of the 'Mog' series of books. This is no surprise as she unashamedly based these characters on drawings of her own family members. Having watched a great TV documentary about her life as part of celebrating her ninetieth birthday a couple of years ago, I can visualise her concentrating hard as the beautiful pencil drawn figures emerge on the page. Unusually, the only coloured illustration this time is on the cover, but the black and whiteness of the others successfully contribute to the nostalgic feel.

Kerr has based her story on one that was told to her by her father when she was a child as she had been fascinated by a stuffed baby seal that was amongst his treasured possessions. He explained that it had been an unusual pet which he took on after the mother had been accidentally culled. Sadly, the animal had not adapted well to a domestic land life, became ill and was eventually put down. With her usual masterful touch and great imagination, Kerr reinvents the story and gives it a much happier ending.

In her revised version we are introduced to Albert Cleghorn, an elderly bachelor recently retired from owning a shop who lives in a flat in a multi occupied building. At the beginning he makes a brief acquaintance in the communal hallway with his neighbour, Miss Craig who is trying to smuggle in her sister's canary for a temporary stay. The fierce janitor reminds her of the 'No pets' rule and she exchanges a conspiratorial smile with Albert which proves to be the beginning of their friendship.

We learn that Albert is becoming bored and restless with his new found freedom from work and so he goes to stay for a while with a fisherman cousin and his young family. Whilst staying with them, he comes across a baby seal whose mother has been shot and makes the spontaneous decision to adopt the orphan. It is certainly an unusual pet and it takes some time to figure out how to look after it well. When he takes it back to his cousin's house, we are presented with some delightful scenes where the human baby bawls indignantly when the seal ( now called Charlie) is offered his bottle. Albert soon becomes besotted with his new charge and takes him home on the train, ostensibly to find him a suitable home at the local zoo.

This proves to be a more difficult task than he anticipated, despite the help of Miss Craig (who as the daughter of a vet has some useful contacts). As they plot and plan together, they both become very fond of Charlie and one another as well. I won't spoil the story any more but be reassured that all ends well.

 

Karen Argent

September 2015