Swimathon

An easy, uncomplicated story, with little depth to plot or character analysis. This is a book for a Middle Junior child to gobble up. The tale revolves around a vandalised school minibus, and how the pupils resolve to raise money to renovate the vehicle. The three main characters, Clipper, Spag and Barry -- who have appeared in previous stories -- organise a Swimathon, and their subsequent problems are all linked with this event. How they succeed in demolishing their opponents, in spite of the handicap of Clipper being a non-swimmer, is rather farfetched, but all's well that ends well. The illustrator follows the text closely, so does the different illustrator for the cover! I wonder which bridge, out of the two depicted, is the one envisaged by the writer. I suppose I'm being pedantic, but why can't illustrators draw both text and cover pictures, so that anomalies like this could be eliminated. Children do spot differences!