posted on 09 Jan 2017

Flour Babies by Anne Fine

I have read and enjoyed several of this author’s more recent YA novels, many of which are quite dark and I had not really appreciated what a range of moods she was capable of. I suppose that achieving the acclaim of being the second Children’s Laureate between May 2001 and May 2003 should have made me realise that I was in for a treat when I eventually got round to reading ‘Flour Babies’, winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Novel in 1993, which is one of her best loved books.  She studied Politics and History at university and her website reveals fascinating information about this shaping her motivation for writing and her interest in the complexities of  ‘tricky family situations’ whereby ‘many personal decisions have a social or political resonance’.  Her skill lies in telling eventful, authentic stories that are multi layered and often very funny and she explains that she also enjoys just writing ‘plain, issue- free comedy.’

From the opening scene where we meet poor Mr Cartwright, a teacher bemoaning the latest bunch of unpromising pupils in 4C, ‘Flour Babies’ is a good example of how she blends the serious with the comedic. The pictures she paints of this group of unruly boys are reminiscent of the Bash Street Kids from ‘The Beano’ or the boisterous class in the TV sitcom ‘Please Sir’ with their general academic hopelessness and timewasting. Mr Cartwright’s unenviable task is to enthuse the class with a topic for a science project from a limited range that includes domestic economy and child development. All they are interested in is which one has the most potential for mayhem, which would ideally involve exploding custard tins.

Eventually the choice is made to try child development, but only because this promises to involve mountains of messy flour in the classroom at the end of the project due to a misleadingly overheard conversation between two teachers by Simon Martin, the main protagonist. He is described as ‘ a clumsy young giant’ who spends most of the day in various kinds of trouble, waiting outside the staffroom or in after school detention. The purpose of the project is to complete a daily journal about caring for and protecting a six pound bag of flour mimicking a real baby that will be the individual responsibility of each boy for three weeks. During this time most boys find out that this is not an easy task and their ways of coping with what becomes a real liability ranges through on-going grudging resentment, periods of temporary abandonment to complete destruction. I especially liked the entrepreneur who was inspired to build a crèche trolley so that he could charge other boys for taking away the burden. The one boy who takes his responsibility very seriously is Simon because he soon finds that his flour baby gives unexpected meaning to his hum drum life as well as enabling him to ask questions about his own early life. We learn that his father abandoned him and his mother when he was only a few weeks old and he becomes obsessed with finding out why this happened. As he protects his flour baby from all kinds of everyday hazards he begins to reflect on what it might mean to have a real child, and writes all about this very honestly in his daily journal. The experience is a catalyst for him developing self –awareness and purpose for the first time ever. Mr Cartwright and the other teachers start to see him in a different way as a result of this and so he grows in emotional strength and maturity which is very heartening.

By the end of the story, Simon is ready to look positively towards the remaining teenage years and by implication, to contribute to society in a way that most boys in 4C never will. They have all been given a negative label throughout their school life and rarely rise above it. So there is some social commentary here about encouraging children, recognising their interests and never giving up on them. Simon comes from a loving family background, even though his circumstances are far from ideal and he emerges as a very likeable young man. The school itself conforms to the archetypal fictional depiction of eccentric, disillusioned and weary staff barely managing to contain the less able children and focussing all their energy on the few who are academically promising. Despite his evident despair at their overall ability, Mr Cartwright reveals himself to be a kind man who spots Simon’s difficulties that emerge from his attachment to his flour baby, and tries to protect him from humiliation.

Anne Fine perfectly understands the needs of her intended young adult readers:    

‘They're the perfect readers. All the wee motors in their brains are spinning happily. Emotions are often in turmoil, so they're happy to read about other people's mixed feelings. And, because they've not yet had time to develop that inclination to ignore uncomfortable things that gradually eats into so many adults, they come at every topic a writer puts before them with fresh and open minds’.

I am looking forward to reading lots more of these hilarious and beautifully written stories.

Karen Argent

January 2017