Going Straight

Some years ago in an article in BfK, Pat Thomson dubbed a certain kind of children's books as 'second fiddle books'. These are stories where a disabled character exists only to promote the development of a troubled or anti-social non disabled character who learns to be a better person by helping those 'less fortunate' than themselves. Coleman's Going Straight starts off with this rather old-fashioned premise but manages to escape the patronising route by giving each of his main characters an identity of their own. Luke, a persistent offender from the worst housing estate in town, is given a choice by the youth offending team: either he gets locked up or he helps Jodi - a blind girl unwittingly caught up in his latest crime - to fulfil her dream of running the mini marathon. Some of the characters are a bit stereotyped: Jodi's over protective parents for example; Luke's dad as the recidivist who finally sees the error of his ways, but the story gains its own momentum through the account of their training and the race itself. Together they build up a relationship of mutual trust and Luke learns to give and take clear, helpful instruction and to put himself second. The subplot of the two hardened youths from the estate who persuade Luke to be involved in more crime by threatening Jodi's life, makes for an exciting, if rather over-neat ending.