Roar to Victory

I gave this to a slow but reliable reader of twelve. He is also a motor-bike lover and highly approved the story of Lee and the schoolboy Motorbike Club. Lee does win the grand prize in the end against all odds and over all possible champions including the boy with the ruthless father, and his own elder brother. Cheering him to victory on the sidelines is his favorite female cousin. As with all good stories for the struggling reader it is stuffed to the last page with predictable, recognisable happenings. Sometimes I feel that with these books we are settling children into a rut rather than showing them the way forward; but the responses of children who want to read but find much material difficult counteract my misgivings and I shall find a place for Lee and Darren and Greg and Joanne and ... in the library as well as the bookshop.