Author: literatureforlads

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again; Frank Cottrell Boyce; Macmillan Children’s Books; 2011

Book summary (taken from Amazon UK):

The first ever sequel to Ian Fleming’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, written by bestselling author Frank Cottrell Boyce and endorsed by the Fleming family. When the Tooting family find a vast abandoned engine and fit it to their camper van, they have no idea of the adventure that lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary flying car – and it wants to be back on the road again…fast! The Tootings can haul on the steering wheel and pull the handbrake as hard as they like, but their camper van now has a mind of her own. It’s not long before they’re hurtling along on a turbocharged chase as Chitty tracks down her long-lost bodywork. But there are sinister forces at work too. When it comes to a car as special as Chitty, everybody wants a piece of her… 

Literature for Lads Review:
I think it’s safe to say the Fleming Estate will be delighted with the sequel that Boyce has written to the original ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. This is a wonderfully entertaining, fun filled, enjoyable story which boys in the later stages of Primary school will love.

The book centres around the Tooting Family and their adventures in a VW Camper Van. The van is fitted with an old engine rescued from a rather peculiar scrapyard and it soon becomes clear this engine has transformed the camper van into something rather extraordinary. Before too long the Tootings discover their camper van has a mind of its own and their magical mystery tour begins.

Boyce enthralls us with the various escapdes of the Tootings and Chitty as they travel across the English channel, onwards to Paris and then beyond to the African Continent. The story is pacy, entertaining and laced with humour throughout. As we arrive in each destination we are given snippets of factual information which adds another interesting angle to the story.

The family themselves have been expertley created by Boyce. They are a very modern family, with a father recently made redundant (a nod to the current recession?), a mother trying to hold things together, Lucy the Goth teenager, and her brother Jem, and not forgetting little brother Harry. All of the characters are engaging, the dialogue between them feels natural and Boyce makes reference to various modern day issues affecting families.

He also litters the book with references to modern day technology, including the use of Facebook and the regular use of a mobile phone to give us the factual information on their destinations. There is no doubt this will appeal to boys as will the description of the Aston Martin halfway through the book (A nod to James Bond perhaps?)

Boyce has written a great book which firmly transplants Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang into the 21st Century. It’s full of fun, adventure, mystery and suspense and the ending leaves us in no doubt that the Tooting family adventures are far from over. I look forward to catching up with them and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again soon!

This is a special two book review.‘Boyracers’ was Alan Bissett’s first novel and features a band of four teenagers as the central characters.  In his latest novel ‘Pack Men’ readers are reacquainted with 3 of these characters as young men. Although both of these books are perfectly suited to being read without the other I decided to read them in sequence. 

Please note both these books are intended for a 16+ audience

Boyracers;  Alan Bissett; Polygon; 2011 & Pack Men; Alan Bissett; Hachette; 2011
Book Summary (taken from Amazon UK):
Since its first publication ten years ago Boyracers has established itself as a contemporary Scottish cult classic. It is a totally fresh, savvy and supremely honest take on being young, naive and hopeful, and the pains of living life at hyperspeed in a mad pop-culture world. It is fast, pacy and funny – an exhilarating joyride through the formative years of four Falkirk teenagers.

Book Summary (taken from Amazon UK):
In 2008 Glasgow Rangers Fc reached a major European final. It was held in Manchester, a short hop from Scotland into England. Cue a colossal invasion: the largest movement of Scots over the border in history and the first time in hundreds of years that an English city was taken over. Chaos reigned.
Pack Men is the fictional story of three pals and one child trapped inside this powderkeg. In a city rocking with beer, brotherhood and sectarianism, the boys struggle to hold onto their friendship, as they turn on each other and the police turn on them. And somehow one of them has to disclose a secret which he knows the others won’t want to hear…

Literature for Lads Review:

‘Boyracers’ is a wonderful coming of age story which gives us an insight into the lives of 4 teenage boys growing up in the Scottish town of Falkirk.  Bissett brilliantly captures what it feels like to be a teenager with the pages almost dripping with angst, sexual tension and the fear of not really knowing where your life is going.

The story is told through the eyes of fifteen year old Alvin with his slightly older friends, Frannie, Dolby and Brian all playing their part in the story.  We witness a number of Alvin’s teenage milestones, including getting drunk for the first time, driving for the first time and his first sexual experience.  Bissett describes these moments wonderfully, making it feel like we are almost back there reliving the moments ourselves.

The friendship the four boys hold is a central theme in the book. It gives them something to be alive for in what they view as a dead end town which is going nowhere. Each of the boys is dealing with issues of their own (an alcoholic mother, being stuck in a dead end job) but they attach a unbelievable value to the friendship.

As the book progress’ it’s clear Alvin has an opportunity to move away from Falkirk and ‘the boys’.  The way he struggles to wrench himself away from the rest of the group will resonate with all teenagers as they face the uncertainty of making the next step in their life.

Pop culture references are littered throughout the book and despite the book being published ten years ago they do not make it feel dated. Rather they remind us how important music, film and television were in our formative years. Stylistically some of the dialogue between the boys is in the Scot’s dialect.  Those unfamiliar with the language might struggle to begin with but they will soon become too absorbed in the story to notice.

Bissett has captured superbly what it’s like to be a teenager. For those of us (thankfully?) past those years it’s a wonderful reminder of what it felt like to be free, up for it and yet petrified of the unknown. For the teenagers of today it will be reassuring to read that they maybe aren’t that different after all.

Marks out of 10: 8

We are reintroduced to Alvin in Bissett’s latest novel ‘Pack Men’.  The book opens with Alvin on board a Rangers supporters bus en route to Manchester for the UEFA Cup final. What follows is a story of a man unsure of who he is, wrestling with issues of class, sexuality and sectarianism.  The football, or rather the build up to the game, merely acts as the backdrop to Alvin’s unfolding story.

Alvin has now graduated from university and is living in Edinburgh and the UEFA cup final is a convenient excuse for him to get together with old pals, Frankie and Dolby. Brian has emigrated and is cleverly replaced by Dolby’s young son, Jack, ensuring the pack of 4 remains.  Other members of the supporters bus also feature heavily in the story including the man mountain of testosterone Cage and the engaging Chrissie.

As we progress through the book it’s clear each character has their own story to tell yet Bissett expertly entwines the characters stories around each other.  This allows the book to unfold naturally, with each character given their place in the spotlight at the appropriate time.

From the 1st page of the book the issue of Sectarianism, quite literally, shouts out at us.  Throughout the book the issue is debated, discussed and in some cases disregarded by each of the characters. Bissett’s fresh approach to discussing this ever thorny subject, prevalent across Glasgow and other areas of Central Scotland, is to be commended. He opens up the debate in a much more honest, open way than others before him have.  He is also quick to challenge our preconceptions of some of the supporters we encounter, dispelling the myth that all football supporters are knuckle dragging neanderthals.

It is however Alvin, struggling to come to terms with his own identity, who is the star of the book. As his story unfolds, with clever flashbacks to his student days interspersing the ever more chaotic scenes from Manchester, it becomes clear he has a secret he wishes to share.

This book is much more than a novel about a fan’s trip to see his team play football. It will make you laugh, make you think and when you reach the last page you will hope it’s not the last time you encounter Alvin and the boys from Falkirk.

Marks out of 10: 9

Here is a video of Alan talking about the writing process (and also giving you a tour of his flat!)

I’m delighted to be able announce details of our 1st guest blog and also our 1st author interview.

Jimmy Coates:Killer;  Harper Collins Children’s Books; 2007

Literature for Lads review:
Lets get straight to the point here – this is a cracking read! Full of action, adventure, intrigue and the odd dash of humour, Joe Craig has written a novel that will have you hooked from the very 1st chapter.

The central character in the book is of course, Jimmy Coates, who we discover almost immediately is not who he thinks he is. As he sets out to find the reasons why mysterious men are chasing him across the city of London we are treated to numerous high octane, full on action scenes, including a mesmerising helicopter chase down the Thames.

With the relentless pace and inventive plot twists you will be totally gripped by this novel. One of the tag lines on the front of the book is that it is ‘100% compulsive’- it’s a pretty apt description!

However it’s not just the adrenalin rushing action that makes this book such a good read.  From the very 1st chapter there is an element of mystery to the whole story and Joe Craig continues to keep us guessing as the story progresses.  Just when we think we are fully beginning to understand the strange world that Jimmy inhabits we are once again left feeling perplexed as the next part of the mystery is revealed.

The setting of the book in a UK not so different from the one we live in today also adds depth to the story.  Playing out beneath the story of Jimmy and his own adventures is the tale of an Orwellian style Government and how they are shaping society for their own means. It’s a great introduction for younger readers to the whole concept of the ‘Big Brother’ society.

The Jimmy Coates series is a brilliant concept and this 1st book sees Jimmy and the other chracters explode onto the pages with a bang.  By the time you turn the last page of this book I’m pretty sure you will be working out how to get hold of the next in the series.

Marks out of 10: 9

Joe Craig is an award winning author whose first book ‘Jimmy Coates: Killer’ was published by HarperCollins in 2005.  Since then Joe has written a further six books in the ‘Jimmy Coates’ series.  The books are immensley popular and Joe has been  bracketed alongside Anthony Horowitz, Charlie Higson and Robert Muchamore as “one of the best spy kids authors… outstanding at both writing and plotting.” (The Times)

Before embarking on his writing career Joe studied Philosophy at Cambridge University after which he became a songwriter, winning numerous awards for his compositions. He’s now a full time author and Literature for Lads was lucky enough to catch up with him recentley and gain an insight into where he got the idea for the ‘Jimmy Coates’ series, what he’s reading and listening to currently and why you should never attempt to make him a sandwich!

How would you describe the Jimmy Coates series?

“The Bourne Identity for kids,” is how it’s been described in several reviews, and I think that’s a very flattering comparison, so I’ll take it. It’s also an apt description of the series, even though the stories are different, of course.

When I first read that in a review I hadn’t read anything by Robert Ludlum (who wrote The Bourne Identity) so I thought I ought to. Since then I’ve become a huge fan of Ludlum, whom I now consider to be the master of the thriller novel. I’ve learned a lot by reading his work – and enjoyed every minute of it.

Where an earth did you get the idea to write about a child assassin?!

That’s not the idea I had! My ‘idea’ was actually a thousand little ideas pieced together to form a plot. It started with the image of men turning up at a suburban family home and announcing, “We’ve come for the boy.” It carried on with the idea that the parents knew these men. Things got kicked into the next gear when the next thought was that the boy would be able to get away because his body responded to the perceived danger by boosting itself to previously hidden extremes of ability. Powers.

Suddenly, these little ideas had coagulated into a situation where a boy with strange abilities he never knew about before was on the run from some kind of organisation and his parents had known that these people would be coming for him.

From there, I unknotted the rest of the story. It happened piece by piece, little by little, each image building on the last in my head, until the whole story was mapped out. Then I started writing.

At no point did I ever think, “I’ll write about a young assassin.” First of all, Jimmy isn’t really an assassin – or is he? That question is one of the fundamental thoughts behind the whole book: whether his identity is determined by his actions or his genetics.

I presume you needed to do research for the series so what did this entail?  At any point did you embark on training to be an assassin?!

‘Believable’ is much more important than ‘realistic’. Most of my research was into the particular workings of cutting-edge military hardware, which I then discarded to create something of my own that people could actually believe in. Most of the real stuff is incredible, but too distracting to put in a book. You’d need to spend too long explaining the physics of it and putting in footnotes saying things like, “I know this sounds ridiculous, but they can really do this – trust me.

It’s obvious from the 1st Jimmy Coates book that you enjoy living in London. What’s the best thing about living in the capital?

I’ve always lived in London. I love it. Wouldn’t live anywhere else.

The first thing that comes to mind is the food. Amazing restaurants of a thousand different kinds on your doorstep. I could fall out of bed straight into a bowl of Chinese, Japanese, French, English, Russian, Ethiopian, Spanish, Moroccan, Italian, Hungarian, Scandinavian, Mexican, Thai or Indian food. And I often do. I should get a bigger bed.

The parks, the skyline, the markets, the shops, the cafés, the people, the transport, the cutting edge of everything, the cosmopolitan attitude, the liberal ethos, the all-welcoming attitude, the theatre, the music, the random events that spring into life unexpectedly… London rocks.

Is there anyone who you feel has been particularly influential on your writing?

I learned to write by writing and being edited by some very astute people. My wife, Mary-Ann and my agent, Sarah Manson, have played a huge hand in that. Without them I wouldn’t write the way that I do. Maybe I’d be better. Yeah, let’s blame them.

Music is obviously a big part of your life as well.  What do you find easier – writing music or writing books?

There is no ‘easier’ or ‘harder’ when it comes to comparing writing music or books. That’s sounds odd, but in some ways they feel too different to compare and in other ways they are exactly the same. In any case, they’re both easier than doing real work, so I’m very lucky I’ve managed to get away with doing both before having to do anything else.

Writing a song is quicker than writing a novel. But when I’m writing a novel I don’t envisage the whole thing as one task, so it’s broken down into chunks of activity that aren’t that much different to writing a song. You can only produce anything in the moment you currently occupy.

Writing books is less collaborative than writing songs. I like that. With books, there’s also a more direct connection between my original vision and the final outcome. One of the biggest frustrations for me when writing music has always been that no recorded version of anything I’ve written has ever recreated what I wanted it to sound like when I wrote it.

I’m not a good producer. I can write a song, I can perform it, but recording it is a different skill and it’s one where I’m lacking.  The closest I’ve come to satisfying recordings of my songs has been thanks to a talented producer who didn’t mind helping me out. (Joe’s 1^st album, The Songman and Me Vol. 1 is available here)

If you could have any artist or band produce a soundtrack for Jimmy Coates who would it be?

I’d do it myself! In fact I’ve already written and recorded the ‘Jimmy Coates Theme’. It’s ready to go. (Ed – Where can we listen to this?!)

If I didn’t have time to do the soundtrack to the whole story I’d ask my very talented friends Mocean Worker and Oli Rockberger

What are you currently reading and listening to?

Right at this moment I have my computer playing my entire music collection on shuffle. I love shuffle, especially while I’m working. Shuffle works particularly well for me because I have 20,000 tracks, which span almost every genre. The only 3 types of music I can’t stand are house, reggae and Terry Callier.

My favourite musical artists at the moment are, off the top of my head: Oscar Peterson, Billy Joel, Toby Keith, Craig Morgan, Jimmy Smith, Aretha Franklin, Lamont Dozier, Paul Simon, Keith Jarrett, Egberto Gismonti, Astor Piazzolla, Hobo Jim, Gabe Dixon, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, Chromeo, Ari Hest, Mr Barrington… I won’t go on, but that should do for now.

As for reading… I tend to have several books going at once. It helps if I leave one in each room. My bedroom book at the moment is ‘Quantum’ by Manjit Kumar; in the bathroom I’ve got ‘Half Brother’ by Kenneth Oppel; in my study I seem to have 2 books going: ‘Cognitive Surplus’ by Clay Shirky and ‘Second Nature’ by Gerald Edelman. The only reason I have two books ‘mid-read’ in my study at the moment is because I bought the first one as a present for somebody then changed my mind, and the second one I found in the street.

Yes, I found a book in the street. It was in a box on the wall outside someone’s house with a sign that said ‘help yourself’. There was a DVD box set of ‘Dexter’ as well, so I ‘helped myself’ to that too, though I haven’t watched any of it yet.

It’s clear from your blog you love a good sandwich – what’s your dream sandwich filling?

Never try giving me a sandwich. Not unless you’re really sure it’s something special. I’m spoiled. A year or two ago I discovered that I live a couple of minutes from a deli run by a sandwich genius. His name is Lee. Lee’s sandwiches are events, each one unique. Two or three times a week, he makes me my dream sandwich. Like all good dreams, these sandwiches are constantly shifting worlds of emotion and passion, an artful balance between the sweet and the sour, the salt and the spice.

The base is great bread, usually a Kentish flute or a ciabatta. The filling is always different, but it’s a combination of a salami and a cheese. Within that simple equation there are almost infinite possibilities, but the quality of each ingredient is always second-to-none. Then there are extras, which round out the experience and bring the flavours to their best – embellishments that might at first sound like too much, but like the timpani in a symphony, it becomes impossible to imagine the finished product without them. The possibilities include grilled artichoke and aubergine, sun-dried or semi-dried tomatoes, and several different flavours of fresh pesto.

Lee has taken the concept of the sandwich to a higher level. You won’t find anything like his creations trapped in plastic in a supermarket or laid out on a catering tray.

Outside the special world of sandwich mastery that Lee has pioneered, the only decent sandwiches are made at home, by me. The best of these is a roast chicken sandwich, honed over many years of exploration and experimentation.

The Quick 5…

• Amazon No1 Bestseller or Number 1 Album?

 Amazon No 1 bestseller, please.

• Reading books or writing books?

Writing

• Twitter or Facebook?

At the moment, twitter (@joecraiguk), but I like Facebookfor certain things

• Print book or e-book?

Print, until I’ve finished every book on my shelves, which will probably take 4 to 5 years.

• Scrooge or Santa?

Scrooge. Definitely Scrooge. I buy decent gifts, but not at Christmas.

More information on Joe can be found on his website

Joe Craig

Today I’m delighted to be reviewing an e-book for the 1st time.  ‘Mondays are Red’, written by Nicola Morgan and originally published in 2002 has been republished by Nicola’s own publishing arm Crabbit Publishing in e-book format only. This has been a brave decision by Nicola but one which I’m sure will delight her readers.

Mondays are Red; Crabbitt Publishing; November 2011 (Kindle Edition)

Book summary(from Nicola Morgan press release):

When Luke wakes from a coma, his world has altered. His senses are confused and a sinister creature called Dreeg inhabits his mind. Dreeg offers him limitless power – even the power to fly. The temptations are huge but the price is high. Who will pay? His mysteriously perfect girlfriend? His sister, Laura? When Laura goes missing, Luke realises the terrible truth about himself and his power. His decision is a matter of life and death, and he will have to run faster than fire.

This book has given me one of the strangest reading experiences I’ve ever had!  From the very 1st page it was a complete and utter attack on my senses. My mind was filled with colours, sounds, tastes and smells as Nicola Morgan introduced me to the world of synaesthesia. A world where “Mondays are Red, sadness has an empty blue smell and music can taste of anything from banana puree to bat’s pee.”

We meet teenage Luke as he lies awakening from a meningitis induced coma.  As he lies on his hospital bed he becomes aware of someone (something?) lurking inside his brain. This character is Dreeg who will lead Luke astray, encourage him to rebel and offer him unrivalled power and glory. However as the story progresses it is clear that Luke will pay the price for this power.

‘Mondays are Red’ is a thoroughly interesting book which will definitely make the reader think when they put it down.  With clear roots in Faustian legend Dreeg is a compelling character.  Able to transform at a moment’s notice into various nauseating beings he is Luke’s personal Satan, willing him down the path of trouble.

As Luke continues on his quest for power Morgan continues to mesmerise us with her use of language. The fact that Luke is suffering from synaesthsia allows her to attack our senses from all angles. Descriptions and language are at times a “…kaleidoscopic shower. Beautiful and confusing.”

Running alongside this combination of imagery and legend is a an extremely creepy horror story. It features metal masked men, spooky woods, missing teenagers and many ‘not sure if I really want to read on’ moments. The whole book is extremely atmospheric and in the last few chapters you can almost hear the crackles of the flames as they leap from tree to tree in the aforementioned woods.

This is a book which has taken a serious issue and dealt with it in an unusual but effective way.  Love may be at the heart of the story but this is no traditional love story. It’s a gripping read which will scare you, enlighten you and will leave you with more questions then answers when you are finished.

Marks out of 10:8

(Thanks to Nicola Morgan for supplying the Kindle copy of the book)

This new Kindle edition of the book includes creative writing from pupils at St Laurence School, Wiltshire, based on ‘Mondays are Red’ as well as some extra information from Nicola herself.

For more information on Synaesthesia you may wish to visit the UK Synaesthesia Association

For more information on Nicola Morgan visit her website

Here is the trailer for ‘Mondays are Red’…

Today I’m delighted to welcome Nicola Morgan onto our blog. Nicola is an award winning author for teenagers and other young readers.  Previous novels include Wasted (shortlisted for the Scottish Childrens Book of the year 2011), Fleshmarket and Deathwatch.  Last week Nicola relaunched her debut novel Mondays are Red, first published in 2002, as an e-book.

Nicola is producing the ebook herself, with a new cover and extra material, including creative writing by school pupils inspired by the book. For details about how to buy, approximately £2.23 on Amazon and similar (soon) on other outlets click here.

NOTE: you do NOT need a Kindle to buy a Kindle book. Simply download the free Kindle software for your laptop, iPad, iPhone, smartphone, android, tablet etc.

In advance of the publication of Mondays are Red I caught up with Nicola and asked her a few questions on her decision to republish Mondays are Red in an e-book format, and also asked her how she felt about the novel, nearly ten years after it was first published.

About the book

When Luke wakes from a coma, his world has altered. Synaesthesia confuses his senses and a sinister creature called Dreeg inhabits his mind. Dreeg offers him limitless power – even the power to fly – and the temptations are huge, but the price is high. Who will pay? His mysteriously perfect girlfriend, with hair as long as the sound of honey? His detested sister, Laura, with the wasps in her hair? When Laura goes missing, Luke realizes the terrible truth about himself and his power. His decision is a matter of life and death, and he will have to run faster than fire.

To read the Literature for Lads review of the book clickhere

Thanks for inviting me onto your excellent blog. You asked me a few questions and I’m delighted to answer them.

Why am I publishing the ebook of Mondays are Red?

Because I can! My agent and I got the rights back from its original publisher and we knew we could sell it again because I still get loads of emails from readers who’ve heard of it but can’t find it in shops now.  It was a book that people talked about a lot when it came out, because it’s unusual – ok, well, weird – and I’m hoping a whole new set of readers will enjoy its wildness and oddness.

The whole ebook scene is really exciting and there are lots of writers like me who are publishing ourselves. We get to keep control – something I always like! We can make mistakes but at least it will be our own mistakes and we can only blame ourselves. I like that.

How is the ebook different?

Well, a lovely new cover is the most obvious thing. But I’ve done two other things: I’ve added several extra pieces at the end – including amazing work by some boys in Wiltshire who had been studying Mondays are Red – and I’ve made very slight changes to the text.

Why did I change the text? I explain in one of the end-pieces but basically it’s because I’m never happy with what I’ve written. Actually, in some ways I wanted to change more but I felt that would be wrong. Every time I look at something I’ve written, I’ll change it. I am never satisfied with my writing.

What do I feel about Mondays are Red after nearly ten years?

I remember the freedom I felt when I wrote it – I had no deadline, didn’t even know if it would get published. I wrote it from the heart, really threw all my imagination and love of language into it. It’s quite wild and exaggerated and uncontrolled and I kind of like that about it. It’s individual and quirky and free. Which, in my opinion, is no bad thing. And because it was the novel that got me published after SO many years of trying (21), it is special to me.

What I mostly feel is that I’m really excited about it being available again and about the idea of doing school events about it. Mondays are Red events are fun and interesting. For years, I couldn’t really talk about it in schools because I was supposed to be talking about the books my publishers wanted me to sell. Now, I’m the publisher of my own book and that feels great!

Mondays are Red is about power and I suppose being able to control its destiny and my own gives me a feeling of power, too.

Thank you again for letting me appear on your blog! I wish you all masses of enjoyment with stories – take risks in your reading, be different and let your imagination fly.

Thanks to Nicola for the excellent answers to our questions.  Mondays are Red is like nothing I’ve ever read before and I really do recommend readers go out and experience it for themselves! If you would like to find out more about Nicola please visit her website Nicola Morgan

Inside my Head; Bloomsbury; 2010

Book summary (taken from Amazon UK): This cleverly constructed narrative consists of three points of view: of Gary, constantly victimised by the school bully in a nasty, name-calling and vindictive way; the bully’s friend, David and a new girl to the school, Zoe. All viewpoints are revealing. Gary reveals the painful and often unsuccessful attempts by a young man to control his anger under great provocation – and his inability to communicate. David is someone who is uncomfortable with the bullying but doesn’t dare to do anything about it – until the end. Zoe is a young woman who can see Gary through different eyes and is independent, freethinking and brave.

Literature for Lads review:
This is Jim Carrington’s debut novel and it’s fair to say it’s pretty hard hitting.  The central theme of the novel is bullying and Carrington has taken this difficult subject and dealt with it in a sensitive manner.  He does this whilst at the same time keeping the reader engaged with a great story.

As indicated in the book summary the story is told from three different points of view; Gary, the victim, David, best friend of high school bully Knaggs and Zoe the new girl who has just moved from London to the Norfolk countryside.  As the story progress it becomes clear that these three characters story lines are going to collide.

Carrington has used the experience he has of being a teacher to good effect with this novel.  His descriptions of classroom situations are spot on and the scenes which take place in the playground are depicted expertly.  It’s also pleasing to see Carrington base the novel in the area he grew up in, Norfolk, as opposed to the more familiar inner city setting often seen in books dealing with this subject.  It reminds us all that bullying can be a problem in any setting or situation.

The three main characters in the book are all interesting in their own way.  Gary, the victim of bullying, is a young adult struggling with anger management and unable to communicate with those close to him. Subject to mass provocation at school he resorts to physical violence to try and deal with his troubles. David, uncomfortable with what his best friend subjects Gary to, is made to think what friendship really is.  Zoe uprooted from the hustle and bustle of London and dumped in rural Norfolk not only has to come to terms with this, but after befriending Gary is plunged into helping him deal with his troubles.

Some may find it surprising that the bully, Knaggs, is not given his own narrative in the book.  However it’s refreshing to have kept the bully out of the limelight. The teasing, name calling and psychological effects the bullying has on Gary is still evident as it’s told through the eyes of the three other characters.

The language used in the book is sometimes that of the playground, but this should not distract the reader from what is a clever, well written book.  I’d go as far to suggest that the book should be on the shelf of every school library.  It takes the ever present problem of bullying and tackles it head on.  Carrington deals with the issue in a way that young adults will relate and respond to and this book deserves to be read.

Marks out of 10: 7

(Thanks to Emma Bradshaw at Bloomsbury Books for supplying the copy of the book)

For more information on Jim Carrington click here