Horace Horrise Wants to be a Scout (1) (The Adventures of Horace Horrise) - Softcover

"Horace Horrise wants to be a Scout," is the first in a series of nine stories that make up The Adventures of Horace Horrise, the 21st century's answer to Richmal Crompton's Just William. It is suitable for adults and older children. Horace Horrise lives in Chislehurst, Kent where he's a very busy young man, too busy to be a scout. One night when he's looking up at the stars he fleetingly wonders about becoming a spaceman when he's older. He decides that soon he will need to start preparing for whatever he's going to choose to do in life. Horace's best friend Charlie tells him that most astronauts have been scouts so what better initial preparation than to become a scout? The only problem is that there appear to be no vacancies in his local troop. He even takes to prayer in his attempts to get a place! Horace keeps his hopes alive during the long wait by helping Charlie to build a periscope, a project that Charlie started in cubs but hadn't finished. It's when Horace tries to source some materials in order to make his own periscope that things start to go wrong. Horace fails to realise that in his quest for periscope perfection he inadvertently helps rekindle his parent's relationship with each other whilst learning things about them that he did not previously know. Eventually Horace succeeds in getting his hands on a periscope and makes a very surprising discovery.