Arabel's Raven

A welcome return for Arabel Jone's 'great awful bird'. Aiken takes readers into a gloriously understated world of finely-tuned, wry (never fey) humour. Her London ('from Nutmeg Hill to Canon's Green') is a wonderfully quirky, original setting. The bird who causes the maximum havoc to the adults and officialdom needs no recommendation from me for the seven to tens who'll read this. My hope is that they find, later, the author's even finer work. For once. I find Blake's pictures too solid and ribald for the essentially ironic life of the story. But that won't deter the lucky readers who'll get to this.