This book is the sequel to B.B.’s award-winning gnome novel, The Little Grey Men, and I am happy to say it’s just as exciting, just as nature-loving, and just as good as the first book. Sneezewort, Baldmoney, Dodder, and Cloudberry are the last gnomes living in England, maybe in the world. They live in an old hollow tree on Folly brook sharing their lives and their fortunes with the birds, especially their owl friends, and the otters and the other wild beasts, and their special friend Squirrel–the Stream People. But the Folly has been diverted into an underground drain upstream, and now all of the Stream People, including the four gnomes must decide what to do about their homes.

Can the gnomes rehabilitate their old boat, the Jeanie Deans? Will there be enough water in the Folly to float the boat if and when they do? Where can the four old gnomes go to live safely and comfortably away from the eyes and ears of men?

In the first book the gnomes went upstream to search for their lost brother, and in this sequel they are traveling downstream to find a new home. But the adventures are the same. The gnomes have to keep the boat afloat, avoid predators and enemies, and most of all, agree on a plan for a new living situation. Unfortunately, one of the four gnomes is listening to his own evil pride and jealousy while another has some wild ideas about how to proceed. And Dodder, the oldest of the gnomes, is hard put to keep the Little Men safe and all together as they go on their dangerous journey downriver.

Content considerations with SPOILER: In this sequel, as in the first book, the gnomes and their animal friends pray to and receive help from Pan, the god of the beasts. Pan, in this story, reads to me like another name for God, the Lord of all as the animals know him (kind of like Aslan in the Narnia stories). There are no incantations or pagan sacrifices, only prayer and a faith that Pan will guard and guide. Also, one of the characters in the book (SPOILER!) plans to murder the others, and the depth of evil that lurks in this character’s mind was a surprise to me. It might be disturbing to more sensitive readers. However, goodness and perseverance win out in the end, and the bad guys get their just deserts.

This book and the one before it are absolutely full of nature lore and beautiful descriptions of the English flora and fauna, and it’s all worked into an exciting story that doesn’t lag or lose appeal. It may move a little more slowly than most contemporary adventure books for children, but I found the pace to be fast enough to keep me reading for hours. The gnomes have to survive through flood and fire and enemies without and within to make it to their new home, which turns out to be both a surprise and just what they expected and wanted it to be.

If I lived in England with children, this book and The Little Grey Men would be must-reads, read-aloud. For Anglophiles like me, the same is true. For everyone else, I would still recommend that you at least try out The Little Grey Men, and if you like it at all, pick up The Little Grey Men Go Down the Bright Stream also.