London street games

the long version

Described by the author as a "breathless catalogue", designed to be "read through accelerando from beginning to end without a break", this little book is a lively collection of the games being played and the rhymes being recited by children in London streets around the time of the Second World War. In order to convey the momentum and verve of the play described, and the exuberant inventiveness of the children, Douglas often quotes verbatim the descriptions given to him by the children themselves.