Kipling’s ‘Puck of Pook’s Hill’ follows the children Dan and Una as they learn from a ‘hill-person’, a sort of fairy called Puck, about the early history of England looking at its Roman, Norman and Saxon years up to the signing of the Magna Carta. It was strange in format, as each of the ten ‘stories’ the children were told by a historical figure who just materialises to life from nowhere is opened and closed with a song, and a point is made at the end of each of using magical leaves to make the children forget, yet reminding them of the past interactions at the start of each new one. It was just a very pointless cycle that made very little sense. 

Usually I don’t adore children literature due to its more simple writing style, me no longer being the target audience, however I am knocking Kipling’s tales down for the opposite reason. I struggle to understand how this is aimed at children as it was really difficult to follow and required a lot of complex historical contexts. It was just written in a very confusing manner, assuming a lot and difficult to enjoy. I fail to understand how this was a beloved children’s tale. In addition, I can’t ignore the subtle embedded racist remarks and religious prejudices which would’ve been indoctrinated into young readers when interacting with this text.