Scottish Childhood

Country Bairns: Growing Up, 1900-1930 This work is a record of rural childhood, a glimpse into the lives of children in the Scottish countryside from the turn of the century until the onset of World War II and the great changes after it which were to alter irrevocably life in the Scottish countryside. In their own words the children of crofters from the Western Isles tell their stories beside those of more prosperous Lowland or North-East farmers and farm workers. They tell of their daily life and routines, their relationships with their parents, and their various roles in winning a living from the land. Scottish Childhood.

The Field of Sighing: A Highland... Childhood. Part autobiography, part fiction, this is a story of crofting life in the run up to the Second World War. Set in Ardnamurchan, it is a celebration - not simply of the crofting way of life, but also of the astonishing natural beauty of the area, from the mountains to the grandeur of the sea, which form an imposing backdrop to the book, to the intimacy of the meadows and flowers. The members of the small community around which the author's narrative revolves, particularly his grandmother, "Herself", a figure of immense significance in his life, a cleverly characterized. The work is full not only of day-to-day happenings of the community, which are recorded with perception and humour, but also of the folk wisdom and traditions of the area.

The Heart Is Highland: Memories of a... Childhood in a Scottish Glen. A fascinating month-by-month account of a child's life in the Scottish Highlands in the thirties and forties. Hardship and adventure combine with a strong sense of the value of life, the beauty of nature and the importance of humour, to produce a fascinating new book, which provides both a nostalgic and insightful account of the Scottish countryside and of the traditional Scottish way of life. Scottish Childhood.

Bairn Rhymes: Scots Verse for Children The well-loved poems in Scots for very young children, now in a new edition. Grouped under headings such as 'For the Wee Anes' and 'Games and Beasts', they are accompanied by Dennis Carabine's humourous drawings. J K Annand (1908-1993) was a teacher and a lifelong champion of the Scots language. Scottish Childhood.

A Hantle O Verse: Poems in Scots for... Children. With its rich mixture of Blethers, Bairns, Bogles, Beasties, Ballads, Battles and Bourachs, this poetry collection draws upon a range of languages and dialects of Scotland, from the Lallans of the south and the Doric of the north-east, to the distinctive speech rhythms of Caithness and the northern isles. Experience the sounds and cadences of the Scots language by reading aloud the poems contained within this anthology. This is a book to be enjoyed not just by children, but by all.

Finding Peggy Scottish journalist Meg Henderson grew up in Glasgow during the fifties and sixties as part of a large, often troubled, family. The tenement block in which they lived collapsed and they were moved to the notorious Blackhill district, where religious sectarianism was rife, gang warfare and struggles with hostile bureaurcrats were part of the daily life for the people. Meg was born into a mixed-religion family, where there was warmth and laughter as well as conflict. She had a close relationship with her mother, Nan, and her mother's sister, Meg's Aunt Peggy, two idealistic emotional women who took on the troubles of the world. Together they shaped Meg's life, shielded her from the effects of her father's heavy drinking and helped her to move on, eventually, from the slums of Glasgow. A hopeless romantic, Peggy searched for a husband until late in her life and then endured a harsh, unhappy marriage until she died tragically in childbirth. Her death devastated the family and destroyed Meg's childhood, but it was only as an adult, after the death of her own mother, that Meg was able to discover the shocking facts behind Peggy's untimely demise.

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