A small collection of stories centered around children from working-class families in England in the 1930s. Fair-to-middling, these. I'm not sure that they've aged very well or that kiddos now would much enjoy them. ( )

Varavavahi vastulook: ja muid lugusidTranslated into Estonian from The goalkeeper's revenge and other stories. One wonders why this was prominent in Estonia. There is a brief list of translated words at the end, e.g. Churchgate - tsootsgeit, Basher - baser, and Scuttle Street - skatl striit.

Thirteen short children's stories. They depict an age that seems much longer ago now, than it did when I first read them nearly forty years ago - said the old fart. For some reason it was Seventeen Oranges that stuck in my head but on reading again I also remembered Spit Nolan, Skinny Nancy and Maggie's First Reader. Great stuff. ( )

These thirteen short stories are set in the North of England of the 1930s (with a little bit of Ireland for good measure).

They show a deft gift for the dialect of Lancashire and Eire of the time and the settings and themes are authentic.

Each story is a vignette: there is no consistency of personnel between stories; however the majority are told from the first-person perspective of a male aged between 10 and 16.

The stories are well suited for their target demographic of 11+ year olds of the 1960s, and do a fine job of integrating reflections on such social issues as disability, the role of women, and class into narrative threads without resorting to preachiness.

The era described is long past and these stories will have little relevance to the young person of today except as historical artifact however the skill of the author and the authenticity shown make this a 3.5 star work. ( )