The Dinky Donkey (PB)

Product Information

I trust publishers Scholastic have sent a copy (or a box lot!) to the Scottish grandmother who illustrator Katz Cowley has dedicated this book to – I'm sure she will love this book too. The Dinky Donkey is a girl who breaks stereotypes. This donkey isn’t all prim and proper — and I like that, because nobody is perfect, and no character should be expected to be. This story isn’t afraid to show and embrace a little girl donkey who can be stinky, punky, and also inky pinky when she messily paints her hooves pink using her dad’s tail (Dinky Donkey, we admire you for that resourcefulness). McCullagh, John (7 April 2008). "Boys' Toys of the 1950s". The Newry Journal. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Dinky Toys were among the most popular die-cast vehicles ever made – pre-dating other popular die-cast marques, including Corgi, Matchbox and Mattel's Hot Wheels. [1] [2] Production of model aircraft resumed after the war with a mixture re-issues of pre-war models, along with models of new civilian airliners and recently introduced jet-powered aircraft. Production of Dinky planes tailed off in 1968, but was resurgent in 1971 with a range of World War II types complete with battery-powered propellers, as well as modern jet fighters, and even a Sea King helicopter. Those large-scale planes had been developed by Airfix but were made by Meccano Ltd., which had recently been bought by Airfix.

There is much to love about this book. The rhymes help pull the story along, allowing even the littlest of readers to try to join in with the litany of descriptions for the little donkey. The words are accompanied by delightful illustrations which perfectly match the narrative. For those who are learning to read the flow of the book, with the repetitions makes it ideal to read ‘all by themselves’. The Pigs are at a different location about 30 minutes’ drive away, so please bear this in mind if you wanted to book both activities on the same day. Meccano continued producing detailed Dinky Supertoys commercial vehicles through the fifties and sixties, including such subjects as a Mobile Television Control Room and Camera Van in both BBC and ABC Television liveries, a Leyland test chassis with removable miniature 5 ton weights, a series of military vehicles including a Corporal Erecting Vehicle and missile (a subject also modelled by Corgi Toys at the same time), a range of Thornycroft Mighty Antar heavy haulage transporters complete with loads and a Horse Box in British Railways and later in Newmarket liveries. I am so glad that Wonky’s reputation has finally come to bite him on the bum on this side of the world thanks to ‘Wonky’s Guardian Granny’. I couldn’t be more delighted,” Cowley said, calling Clark “a reminder in life, when all else fails, to fall about laughing. She has a spirit like Wonky’s.”Meccano Ltd exported Dinky Toys to all of the United Kingdom's old colonies relatively cheaply because of existing Commonwealth trade agreements. South Africa was one of its big importers. I could list more. I haven’t yet got to George Herbert, or the poems of my impressionable teenage years. Or that epic of chance and loss: Lansing Bagnall Tractor & Trailer: Introduced June 1960; withdrawn 1964. No model variation but two box variations. Please note that the donkeys are quite young so do sometimes display boisterous behaviour. If this is the case, their handler will advise the best way to proceed safely, but we advise that children under 5 cannot lead a donkey and must be supervised at all times. Under 16s are not permitted to lead their own donkey as they are extremely strong!

As in the first book, author Craig Smith has created fanciful situation to indulge in rhyming word play, culminating in: Austin Lorry: Introduced December 1957; withdrawn 1962. Four model variations and four box variations.

Please book or enquire here for specific dinky dates, but if you wish to buy an undated voucher, please visit our Gifts section where you can either buy specific or general Gift Vouchers as great special presents. In November 1958, Meccano Ltd introduced the Dublo Dinky range of models in 1:76 OO scale, designed to be used with the Hornby railway system. [22] These were relatively cheap to produce – having a one-piece die-cast metal body, a base plate and or windows on some, and plastic wheels. There was the added bonus of being able to compete in the small-scale toy car market which, at the time, was dominated by Lesney's Matchbox. [23] In 1974 labour was getting too expensive in France, and Meccano subcontracted the manufacture of some models to Auto Pilen s.a. in Spain. These models had already been made in France and were sold exclusively under the marque Dinky. When the Calais factory closed down some of the recent tools were sent to Liverpool where the models were produced with new baseplates. Some of these tools were later sent to Auto-Pilen where they were modified or updated before being re-issued; however, it is not known if the dies were modified by Meccano or by Pilen. These models were sold in France under the marque Dinky, they were clearly identified as Dinky and as MADE IN SPAIN on the base plate. In Spain they were sold as Pilen and marked as such. Pilen models, most of which were Dinky dies, were very popular and numerous in Spain and commonly sold in El Corte Inglés and Galerias Preciados department stores. Besides some of the military vehicles offered before and after the war, the first significant releases from Dinky in the late 1940s were the 40 series, which were all British saloons. The first new model car released was an Armstrong Siddeley Coupe. [16] These were the opening chapter of the "golden age" of Dinky Toys in the post-war era and represented far greater accuracy and detail than their pre-war relatives. These were very popular and today are often considered by collectors to be the quintessential Dinky Toys models. The 40 series cars were manufactured from better quality alloy, meaning that the survival rate is higher and although originally sold in trade boxes of six, they were renumbered in 1954 and re-coloured in two-tone paintwork in 1956, the Austin Somerset ref. 40j is probably the first model sold in its own individual yellow box. The first two models in the 40 series were in 1:48 scale, while the others were in 1:45 scale. [17] The Jowett Javelin saloon is an interesting case as plans were made, but the model was never issued. More recently, Odgi Models have remade the Jowett and a couple other Dinky Toys Models which were planned but never manufactured. a b Wagner, Claude; Dujardin, Jacques (2014). Dinky Toys, les modèles Français 1934 – 1940 (in French). ISBN 9782954435909.