The Wood Sorogs is for children of seven and upwards and will be of interest to older backward readers.
After a bang on the head the main character remembers nothing. A friendly Beetle, Sextus, calls the patient 'chap' (jacket buttons do up on the boys' side) and helps him back to home ground.
Darna, his mother, and Arral, his father. find him. Memory floods back. He is Motty, with a little sister, Elfrine, part of the tribe of Wood Sorogs who live in Skillett Wood, keeping clear of huge clumsy People. They are dangerous!
When Starbell, his best friend, says People are near, Motty follows. Teenagers Rick and Wayne swing round a stick with a flat pan on the end squabbling about when to return.
Motty remembers hearing about 'tectors and buried treasure. The tribe digs it up and shares everything. Cleverly, they replace the hoard with scrap metal and enjoy watching the fury of the boys confronted with 'poxy rubbish'. Rick and Wayne fight, destroying the 'tector.
Feeling restless one day Motty rides off and finds himself where he met Sextus. He hears feeble cries for help. The boys have tied Sextus up - they are coming back. Motty cuts him loose just in time. He meets all Sextus's family and friends. They become life-long allies.
When Elfrine is snatched as a dolly by a girl, this alliance saves her. Sorogs and Beetles enter the girl's house by a catflap. The massed Beetles face up to the cat who breaks a vase. Woken abruptly, the People shut the cat upstairs. The rescuers can escape.
Is Skillett Wood haunted? People, seen by lanterns, wear old-fashioned clothes and talk strangely. One has wings, another a horse's head - enough to scare any Dad.
Who can solve the riddle?
The holiday nearly done, Motty and Starbell paddle a makeshift canoe but a violent storm turns their puddle into churning foam. On the point of capsizing they're saved by a water vole. The will see their homes and school again.
