Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now

She’s back, worrying about infinity and whether the house will fall down, will her parents get divorced, will she make a new best friend when Betty Moody goes to live in America. Is the new girl in league with baddy Justin Broach? Who is he bullying? And just why is Mr Larsson so angry? Clarice Bean, potentially every nine-year-old’s alter ego/best friend, has a lot on her plate in this third novel.

Gradually things begin to resolve themselves and the messy-looking grown-up world looks a bit less scary as Clarice learns to take charge of her worries with advice from her detective hero Ruby Redfort.

There’s always lots of fun from Lauren Child, in the typography, the quirky illustration and the runaway thoughts of her young heroine, and the underlying seriousness is well tackled with the lightest touch so that it can be found at whatever level the child needs it. My young tester, who claims to have no worries at all, loved it. I miss the Clarice-speak of the picture books, but I guess that’s just CB growing up… and her readers along with her.