Big Head; Lady Long-Legs

Both of these beautifully produced Walker hardbacks address a common aspect of minor bullying or tyranny within school. Teachers and children are sympathetically drawn in both volumes, and Mark’s central character and her friends are Asian.

It is good to see such well-written texts for readers in the early stages of independent reading, both managing to convey complex issues in remarkably simple terms. Mark’s is the subtler, thus richer, while Ure’s is more comic, but both feature confident girls solving problems and learning more about themselves and others in the process; both could be used as starters for class discussion.

Liberal illustrations, from the endpapers on , add to the attraction; these are truly a cut above the average for children at this stage.