Books with title Sunday School Specials 4

Sunday School is the story of Alex and Leanora, two teenagers brought together by their interest in the 1984 - 1985 British miners’ strike. They slip out of school to investigate the commotion at the end of the street and meet Charly, an ex miner who befriends them and offers to answer their questions about the strike. Alex has to persuade his parents that he should be allowed to visit Charly at his allotment hut on a Sunday morning. Over the course of the following eight chapters the three discuss the strike and in so doing broaden out the discussion to include the ‘what ?’, ‘how ?’ and ‘why ?’ of: trade unions, political parties, the media, violence, peer pressure and the battle for social values for which the strike became a proxy. Charly challenges Alex and Leanora to think differently and the children are introduced to history, ideas and understanding which they do not get either at home or in school. They argue with Charly as they try to reconcile his facts and logic with their previous experience. Charly presents his Socialist ideas in the context of the children's questions, without slogans or assertions of political theory.The book ends with the children watching miners returning to work after a year on strike. A monologue from Charly summarises his reaction to the defeat. There is no summary for the children's views; apart from their continued interest in the strike, how much or how little they have been influenced by Charly is left for the reader to imagine.