The Intruder is a 1969 children's novel by John Rowe Townsend. [1] It was well-received, being shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and winning the Horn Book Award in 1970 [2] and the Edgar Award in 1971. [3] The book was adapted for television in 1971. [4]
Sixteen-year-old Arnold Haithwaite is a sand pilot guiding parties of tourists over the sands at Skirlston; a fictional seaside town in England. [5] But Arnold's quiet life is shattered when a stranger turns up claiming to be the real Arnold Haithwaite. Life at Cottontree House changes dramatically for the young lad and his father when the stranger worms his way into their lives. No one seems to have any sympathy for Arnold's predicament, except newcomers Peter and Jane, and even they are not sure he is not simply imagining the whole thing. Things come to a head when Arnold finds himself fighting the sea itself in the midst of a raging storm, with the stranger at his heels and Jane trapped by the rising tide in the ruins of an old church.
The book was adapted into a British television series, The Intruder, by Granada Television in 1971, broadcast 1972. It starred James Bate (as Arnold), Milton Johns and Sheila Ruskin. There were eight episodes. [6]
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Hey, What's Wrong with This One? is a 1969 children's novel by Maia Wojciechowska. Written for older elementary school and middle school aged children, the work centers around three brothers and their father in the aftermath of the death of the children's mother.
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John Rowe Townsend was a British children's writer and children's literature scholar. His best-known children's novel is The Intruder, which won a 1971 Edgar Award. His best-known academic work is a reference series, Written for Children: An Outline of English Children's Literature (1965), the definitive work of its time on the subject. It was greatly expanded for the first revised edition as Written for Children: An Outline of English-language Children's Literature (1974) and updated for its 2nd to 4th revised editions in 1983, 1987, and 1990 – the last, "A survey of imaginative writing, including poetry and picture books, accompanied by a bibliography of works on children's literature and illustrations from many of the classics of children's literature through 1989.".
The Intruder is a British drama series made by Granada Television for the ITV network and was broadcast on Sundays from 2 January to 20 February 1972. There were eight episodes made, all of them running 25 minutes.
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