Itching for a Fight: Another almost true story by Dylan Douglas (age 13)

After Dylan gets a black eye he decides it’s time to learn how to defend himself – or at least learn to run away faster. Dylan’s friend, Dec, seems to think his shiner is the perfect way to attract girls. Weirdly, he seems to be right, as Karen has previously never wanted to walk home with Dylan. It all goes well till they run into the lads from neighbouring ‘tough school’ Lowfield, who gave Dylan the black eye, and Karen has to scare them off. Suddenly he doesn’t look quite so cool any more. Dylan hopes that’s all going to change once he becomes a master of the martial arts. Unfortunately his arch enemy turns out to be the martial arts teacher’s pet.

This hugely entertaining story, ‘written by Dylan’, rattles along at a blistering pace and, without appearing to be politically incorrect, is likely to be particularly popular with boys at the top end of this age range or slightly older. It has many references to current celebrities and popular culture so will possibly date, but it will be a real hit for the time being, along with the three other titles in the series, Going Out with a Bang, They Think It’s All Over, and The Not So Great Outdoors.