The Beautiful Game

                                             

2002

 Jon Blake’s The Beautiful Game has an older protagonist, a teenager who is good at snooker. The book is just 79  pages long,  and the text, although blocked implying it is for a fluent reader, is double-spaced and in a child-friendly font. The chapters are short. The book has a decent spine. Only those interested in snooker would choose it. It contains a first person narrative which would suit the teen reader. This is high-low - a simple text for the older struggling reader.    

 
There is tension right from the beginning. By the end of the first chapter - just four and half pages long the protagonist knows  “I’m going to get my arse kicked by Creeping Death” (9). By the end of Chapter 3 Jamie’s estranged father has turned up at the family home and upset his mother.

Gradually, Jamie’s dad creeps back into their lives. He gets Jamie a new cue. Jamie has to hide this from his mother but she does find it eventually. Do we trust Jamie’s father? He turns up one day with a bruise on his cheek. He has been in a fight with another man who thought that he was looking at his wife.    

After Jamie’s mother has found the new cue and is not happy about it. Jamie runs away form home and joins his dad. However what he finds is not pleasant: “there is a stink of aftershave,stale beer and rotten food. The sides are chock-a-block with pizza boxes, paper plates and empty cans of lager” (47). 

Later, Jamie clears the place up and is pleased with himself (56-57). But it is all spoilt when his father brings his mates home and an orgy takes place (58).

His father lets him down. Yet Jamie manages to pull himself together enough to win the big game, defeating Creeping Death. He realises that his mother was right all along. He walks away from the beautiful game. 

This story does indeed have plenty of negatives but the ending is completely upbeat and will appeal to the mature reader.              

Ted Rules the World by Frank Cottrell Boyce

2015, first published 2008,  

This book is produced by Barrington Stoke. This publisher asks established writers to compose stories and then they adjust them to suit the reader. This is one of their Little Gems. These texts offer several aids to the struggling reader:  short chapters, double –spacing, text formatted ragged right, a plain font with simple ‘a’s and ‘g’s, and numerous full-colour pictures which illustrate and aid understanding.  The text can be defined as a high-low.  The content is for a mature primary school child but the text is for a less confident reader.  A notice at the end of the book reminds us that these texts are tested by young people.  

The story explores some quite complex issues in a fun way. A female, populist Prime Minister tries to please the average person.  They use Ted as a test case.  However, he is not quite as average as he at first appears.  He is a redhead. This is a virtue, not a problem. But whilst he is deemed to be average several changes happen in his favour.

Ted has to learn a few life lessons.  For example if life is made easy for him it will become harsher for others. If red-heads are favoured what happens to the blonds?      

The Devil's Angel by Kevin Brooks

2007

Dean certainly seems like a devil yet his friendship with protagonist Jack is sincere and firm. They have a grand adventure together but it does not end well.  However, their friendship continues until Jack has enough of the hard times they share together. Timing is not good; they are about to get a record deal with for their band. Jack later feels responsible for Dean’s death which he can also trace back to the time when he was stabbed as thy set off on their grand adventure.  Jack has mixed emotions about this friendship.     

This book is a high-low produced by Barrington Stoke who specialise in such books.  They are tested for children and young people by children and young people.  

The chapters are short.  The print is clear in a non-serif font and is formatted ragged right.  It is printed on pale yellow paper. Thus there are several aids for  the dyslexic reader.