Undercover Boy ¦ Chips and the Crossword Gang
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Cover Story
There was a boy called Thomas Mead
Who never ever learned to read.
"l wish you would!" his teacher sighed
"Why should l?" Thomas Mead replied.
The Tale of Thomas Mead (Bodley Head 0 370 30357 1, £3.25, January 1981) which is a positive and hilarious answer to `Why should I?' Pat says, `I liked the idea because both my children found reading difficult.' We are delighted to have Thomas Mead on our cover and Pat Hutchins in the Authorgraph (p. 14). For more see the Editor's Page in this issue.
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Roy Brown's output recently arouses doubts. These seem tired and unconvincing. Elements recurring from earlier novels don't help either. In such short books (+/- 80 pages) characters get little room alongside all the action and the adults are handled very poorly. Clumsy construction too; one feels like writing, "You must take more care with your work" at the end.
Chips, 'the policeman's son' and his errant labrador seem more at home catching petty bike thieves in Crossword Gang than the big time jewel thief of the first book. perhaps for top junior boys wanting something a bit tougher. Gravesend setting.
