New children's book celebrates Black Country dialect
The authors of a series of children's stories in Black Country dialect have released another book about the adventures of two cats.
It's a Rock Out by Tim Vincent and Gordon Fanthom is the sixth in the Glastonbury and Bone series of children's picture books which are written in Black Country dialect, but feature a translation for those who don't understand.
The books follow the capers of Glastonbury, a 'posh’ elderly cat who settles in the Black Country and hangs out with fellow cat Bone at the Grease Monkeys garage.
Gordon, a mechanic who lives in Swindon, near Dudley, says Bone and his friends teach Glastonbury the strange new customs and language of the Black Country.
It's a Rock Out sees the cats heading to a festival of games including spanner throwing and the Black Country tradition of jumping across canals.
There are also topical references to plans to build an Aldi supermarket on part of the Abbey Street recreation ground in Lower Gornal.
The book also features a reference to Slade hit Cum Feel the Noize which Gordon is promoting as the Black Country anthem.
"Black Country Spake is not the old black-and-white dialect thing of the past, as some portray it, it is alive and still developing," he says.
Familiar Black Country landmarks such as Dudley Castle and Brierley Hill's Nine Locks are featured in the book.
The books are available on Amazon in both paperback and for Kindle.
