The Egg Thieves

From a series of 'short novels...for younger, confident readers', this tells the story of an osprey nest in a small Scottish village. As egg thieves attempt to plunder the nest the local children set up a nest-watching campaign. In attempting to meet the needs of the aforementioned readers, Lingard has produced a surprisingly pedestrian text, lacking pace and tension and leaving several untied ends. Practical information about the habits of ospreys and the construction of bird hides is included, at times rather didactically; the softly pencilled illustrations seem better-suited to a more humorous, less worthy text. There is a good mixture of narrative and dialogue, with a few gently Scottish touches, and the friendship between the young boys and girls is well-handled, but all in all it fails to grip.