Pride and Penalties

At first this looks like the archetypal contemporary ‘girl book’ – pink flowery cover, punningly catchy title, horrible gritty glitter stuff all over the front – and in some ways it is. However, it proves to be an engaging story with some unexpected themes.

Spider lives for rugby; her brother Will, while also a potential star at the game, prefers drama, so much so that in a rugby-mad family he risks his father’s wrath by missing an important trial to take part in a show. As the story unfolds we realise that the children are dealing not only with gender stereotypes, but also a depressed controlling father and a grandmother in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

Higgins packs a lot into an easily-read book, taking the issues seriously but presenting them with a welcome lightness of touch; it is as entertaining as it is didactic. The presentation may be a mistake though. My sports mad 13-year-old son enjoyed reading this too – can’t we move on from pink glitter? I want him, and boys of his age, to meet these ideas.