Short takes: Children's books

Reviewed by MARGIE THOMSON

Brian Falkner: Henry and the Flea

I suspect there are many sporting fantasies locked inside the heads of boys of all ages. Here's one that's made it on to the page - a league fantasy about 12-year-old Daniel, who makes it into the Warriors. Daniel has a secret that enables him to hop around the field with incredible speed and agility, out-manoeuvring players several times his body-weight. He becomes known as the Flea, a media sensation - but what happens when his secret deserts him? And, while he's busy with endless training, he's losing touch with his best friends. Their lives, he discovers, go on without him and suddenly he's not so sure he wants to leave his childhood behind so abruptly. It's fast and funny, but with undercurrents of seriousness about growing up, judging others, honesty and friendship that make this more than just a light frolic. This will be a great read for sporty kids in particular. There's a lot of sporting detail, but that won't be a problem for the target audience.

(Mallinson Rendel, $16.95)

* * *

Ian Serraillier: The Silver Sword

A moving account of a family torn apart by war: three children struggle across war-torn Europe, alone after their mother is taken by the Nazis. This classic book, written in 1956, is still fresh and a moving and satisfying story. It offers a history lesson for today's children.

(Red Fox, $16.95)

* * *

Fleur Beale: Red Dog in Bandit Country: A true story as told by Bill Redding to Fleur Beale

Red Dog Bill Redding was the Crocodile Dundee of Colombia, an entertaining mix of brain, brawn and laconic humour. He's a fantastic subject for a book, as Fleur Beale discovered when Redding came to live in New Zealand in the late 1980s. Beale has captured the story of Redding's time in Colombia in the years after World War II, when he worked first as a pilot bringing the payroll to damworkers in the heart of bandit country and then as an explosives expert on the same dam construction project. He dines with the Bandit Queen and her 12 gun-toting sons, makes a startling discovery, and flees for his life through the mountains. Thrilling, entertaining and true, every page is full of great one-liners. "What a place. I figured I wouldn't mind working there," he says after being held up by armed bandits - thing is, he means it.

(Longacre, $16.95)

* * *

Mike Carter: Jessie

Well-told story about Jessie, nearly 14, recovering from a nervous breakdown following her early years as a child-prodigy concert pianist. Her father takes her to live in a remote town in Australia where she is befriended by some ordinary people and eventually feels brave enough to join the school band. Fairly predictable storyline, yet with some interesting surprises.

(Lothian, $19.95)

* * *

Joyce Carol Oates: Big Mouth and Ugly Girl

Matt is accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends, like sheep, turn against him. Ursula, who is unpopular, is the only kid who sees the injustice. Pulitzer Prize-winner Oates turns her skills to young-adult fiction and the result is gripping and provocative.

(CollinsFlamingo, $14.99)

* * *

Elizabeth Goudge: The Little White Horse

It's wonderful to see a new edition of Goudge's 1946 classic - let's hope it brings this magical story to the attention of a new generation. Reading it again myself after a gap of three decades was like sinking into a warm, rich bath of language - sheer delight. Maria Merryweather, recently orphaned, goes with her governess to live at her ancestral home Moonacre. She becomes fascinated by the story of the Moon Princess and the little white horse, and realises she has her own part to play in the legend.

(Lion, $16.99)