The Diddakoi

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I've only ever read one other book by Rumer Godden -- the lovely little The Story of Holly and Ivy, which I loved as a child -- so when I saw this at the library a few weeks ago, I was intrigued. A 1976 children’s television series, Kizzy was based on the award-winning children’s novel. One viewer, Nicolette Howard, remembers it well. “I didn’t come across the book, but that series was my defining childhood television experience. It made such an impact on me.” In the narrative, Admiral Twiss is criticised by the village It appears to be true. It is unfortunate because a common stereotype of Gypsies is as thieves. Here, for example, is part of the Wikipedia entry on Romani: Homework questions (when and where was Rumer Godden born and where and when did she die? Where are “the South Downs” and “ Rye, Sussex“?)

It does, as others have noted, have a bit of a fairy-tale ending, but it also has some very dark moments such as when Kizzy is beaten up by a group of girls from her school. This is a tale from before the days of political correctness and helicopter parenting, when kids were left to get on with things by themselves, including sorting out their differences by behaving as kids do in the wild, i.e. being cruel, nasty, and inclined to physical bullying when they have the upper hand. I remember it well--sitting in my German class pulling out clumps of hair after being roughed up by another girl with her gang of friends watching to ensure I didn't get away. Fortunately I never had it as bad as Kizzy, and certainly not at the age of eight. The admiral knows the gypsies traditions and he respects them. He also trusts the gypsies (even though there is a fire in his orchard, he is not worried). Kizzy is no shrinking violet victim however but an ambivalent heroine, who gives as good as she gets. Given to tantrums, she pouts and sulks her way through six episodes. The sheer misery Kizzy undergoes demands a happy ending - sentimental and unlikely it may be but who would begrudge the battling little Kizzy a little happiness? Aimed squarely at the female half of the young audience Kizzy was one of the best-remembered 'weepies' among girls of that era. I’ll be chairing the festival’s free Let’s talk About This Book event on Saturday 2 April 5-7pm also at Southwater Centre. It features Rumer Godden’s nephew, Simon Foster, and the two writers and journalists of Romany Heritage, Dan Allum and Jake Bowers. Dan Allum, from Cambridgeshire, who has previously abridged The Diddakoi for Radio 4 extra, will also be reading excepts from the book in Teddy Tinker’s free chapter reading events on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 April at 3pm.I will tell you more about the examination next class – July 10th. It will be a reading and writing exam, based on the two textbooks we have used this semester.

The 2022 A Town Explores A Book festival centres around Rumer Godden’s The Diddakoi on the 50th anniversary of its publication. Festival director, Gail Borrow outlines what’s in store. A little gypsy girl must overcome personal tragedy and bullying when she is forced to adopt a 'gorgio' way of life. Show full synopsis After her gran dies, half-gypsy Kizzy faces an uncertain future, living with Miss Brooke and trouble at school." There WILL be an examination – July 24th. (In today’s class, I said there would not be an examination: that was incorrect). More than 1,000 Romanian Roma live in just one of the many camps that lie on the outskirts of Madrid.

As Kizzy’s young teacher Miss Blount (Meg Ritchie) says: “Children can be so cruel,” and at its core, this is a story of bullying and intolerance. note the gypsies’ ways of thinking (“Are you going to let your woman talk to me like that?”, “we don’t want no snoopers”, “’tisn’t children as are the bother… it’s the things they have to have”, “When you had one wagon there was plenty of room; in a fine house with three bedrooms there’s no room at all”. There's a slight air of preachiness in the story that was also fairly common in early- to mid-20th-century children's books, the era in which Godden would have grown up. But it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story; in fact the old-fashionedness of the book was part of its charm for me.

a b c "The diddakoi" (Macmillan, 1972). Library of Congress Online Catalog. Library of Congress. Retrieved 17 December 2022. In the course of events, Kizzy’s guardian Gran dies and her gypsy caravan home is burnt down (in accordance with gypsy custom).Young adult author Patrice Lawrence cites The Diddakoi as the book that articulated how she felt as a child of colour growing up in Sussex. Patrice is judging the festival’s creative writing competition for 7-14 year olds themed around kindness. She’s joined by fellow young adult writer, Catherine Johnson, and a panel including coordinator Hannah Collisson, festival mentee Lily Bowers, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery’s learning officer Foteini Athanasiadou and this year’s festival ambassador, Jean Lancaster. Also running over the final Easter weekend, Thursday 14 – Monday 18 April, performers Yasmin Aishah and Hannah Collisson present a new exper-iential theatre performance at ExploreTheArch’s venue, Archer Lodge. This is a promenade outdoor performance to the performers’ created garden hideouts based on their childhood experience. Like Godden’s protagonist, Kizzy, they seek magical personal spaces to reflect on the known and unknown of relatives, residences and ritual from their mixed race heritage. The book's characters are at times horribly human and at others give such hope. The Diddakoi is beautiful story which had me in tears throughout as Kizzy faces so much trouble and prejudice in her young life and yet is slowely transformed by love and acceptance from some unexpected places.