The After School Crime Club

Willow Strong is eleven years old. Her Nanna whom she adored and with whom she spent a lot of time, has just died. Her Mum is worried Willow’s grades are slipping so has sent the unwilling Willow to SATS tutoring at the local bookshop. There, she meets Marie, who seems nice and the enigmatic Tay Welding who has a reputation for being mean and doing all manner of disreputable things. Marie tells Willow that Tay, whom Willow is desperately curious about and wants to befriend, wants her to steal an object from home for a dare to join their secret gang. Willow knows this is wrong but how far will she be willing to go to fit in?  And is Tay Welding all that she seems or can first impressions be wrong?

Webster details the power of peer pressure and encourages the reader to break down stereotypes and to be less quick to reach a judgement. The strongest relationship in this book is between Willow and her Nanna and it is one that most readers will value.

The one thing that didn’t quite ring true for this reviewer was the fact that tutoring took place in a bookshop. There might be a few too many distractions!