Hal the Highwayman

If only more first reading books were written and illustrated with the dash and panache of this highly entertaining short tale in which the integration of text and illustration is seamless. Hal is a highwayman and at dead of night, in the Alfred Noyes tradition of highwaymen, he goes ‘riding, riding, riding’. But – ‘he wasn’t very good’. After a series of disasters (falling off his horse, failing to frighten stage coach passengers into handing over their money, etc) Hal enrols at the Dick Turpin School for Highwaymen for a course of intensive study in map reading, shouting, mask making and riding. His first report is not good (‘Hal must remember to cut eye-holes in the mask so he can see where he is going’) but he perseveres and his final report is a good one. All that remains is to put his new skills into practice… Young readers will love the jokes, the lists, the school report, the maps, Dunbar’s exuberant, scribbly pencil and wash illustrations and above all, Hal’s engaging enthusiasm as he keeps trying to be a better highwayman.