Truckers
October 15th 2006 12:47
'Truckers' is the first book in a trilogy of children's books by Terry Pratchett written in the early 90s. They're a few of the handful of books that Pratchett has written not set in the Discworld universe. 'Truckers', whilst being a fairly slight book and written in a manner that makes it possible for people of all ages to enjoy it, is very amusing and a cracking good adventure too.
We start our story with Masklin, a Nome. The Nomes are tiny people who live underneath our feet, Masklin's Nomes have been living outside but are forced to leave their homes due to the ever-growing dangers of the outside world. So they head to a Department Store, where they find a whole society of warring Nome clans who have built cultures, religions and class structures around the 'Arnold Bros. Est. 1905' store.
These Nomes have never been outside, and many of them think the idea of an 'outside' is ridiculous. But when it is discovered that the Arnold Bros. (Est. 1905) Department Store is due to be demolished, Masklin must try and organise the Nomes and convince them to leave the store. Along for the ride is The Thing, an ancient mysterious wisdom-giving technological artefact from the Nomes past that has a lot to say about their origins.
'Truckers' is a terrific and fun book. Pratchett has a lot of laughs up his sleeves in regards to the ways the Nomes of Arnold Bros. Est. 1905. have built their lives around the Department Store... their Goddess is called 'Bargains Galore' and her enemy/Satan-like counterpart is 'Prices Slashed', and the various clans are named after departments in the store (eg. the Haberdasheri clan). There are all sorts of ingenious little references to be found in this book. and Masklin's eventual plan in regards to the exodus of the Nomes is quite clever too.
It's aimed at kids, but it's easily enjoyed by adults as well. 'Truckers' is the first in a trilogy known collectively as 'The Bromeliad' and is followed by 'Diggers' and 'Wings'. 'Truckers' was made into a stop-motion animation series in 1992, and all three stories are currently in development with Dreamworks, who are aiming to release a single CGI film based on the entire trilogy.
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Comment by JoshZ
Comment by Keira
Keira's Blog
Forgeting all about it, getting into discworld when I was about 15, then devouring anything Terry Pratchett, finally stumbling accross Truckers and realising that I had watched it as a child.
Crazy times...
to see all the little in-jokes and where Terry got info from go here: http://www.au.lspace.org/books/apf/truckers.html
In regards to Diggers and Wings, Diggers is ok, but then wrecks the ending for Wings. I would say to read Diggers, skip the last chapter, then read Wings, then go back to that last chapter at the end.
A movie would be awesome.