Boys Don’t Knit

After he ends up on probation following an inept bit of shoplifting and accidentally knocking over the local lollipop lady at his school, Ben Fletcher finds that life is about to get worse.  He is told to attend an evening class as part of his restitution, but the choices are not good; his dad runs the car maintenance course, one of his teachers does knitting and a female classmate’s mother teaches pottery.  Unfortunately Ben gets things muddled and ends up on the knitting class.  That is when the fun really begins.

I really enjoyed this book with its quite whacky theme, sense of humour and underlying seriousness about the pressures on teens to be part of the crowd.  There is a fair bit about the knitting process, but if this book is correct, then there is too much focus on designer brands of needles in the world.  It might be difficult to persuade boys to read the book, but I think they would get the humour, and might even try out the knitting.  As the main character is in his top teens this is a book for secondary students, although there are no real concerns about the content.