Pig

A recent move from the rural outposts of South Africa to an urban mêlée simply focuses the concerns and difficulties of any 11-year-old boy: the desire for peer approval, the need to have a place in the social order. What singles Mike out for particularly brutal treatment is his inability to conform to a regime which refuses to acknowledge the worth of its black people. It's the universality of the theme and Mike's embarrassed, but determined, stoicism which make the book so appealing. The soccer content will also endear it to Lower School boys, as will its pacy style and manageable length.