The Terrible Kidnapping of Cyril Bonhamy ¦ The Spy and the Mission of Staggering Importance ¦ Who Got Rid of Angus Flint? ¦ The Deadly Gang

Short, funny, copiously illustrated books are just right for tempting kids who are reasonably proficient readers but who do take naturally to fiction. These Jesters are no classics but now they've made paperback, they'll be useful in schools as possible follow-ups to Treehorn, Flat Stanley, The Boy Who Sprouted Antlers, etc. The Terrible Kidnapping of Cyril Bonhamy is easily the best, though it's wide open to accusations of reinforcing racist stereotypes as Assif. Yassif and Massif kidnap unworldly, bookish Cyril in mistake for an Irish bomb expert Drawings by ffolkes help a lot. Experience shows that kids like The Spy and the Mission of Staggering Importance more than the adult anyway. For me, slapstick rarely works in print but perhaps cartoon-culture on the box has heightened the visual sense since my day. I'd expect the climax of Who Got Rid of Angus Flint? to be enjoyed - the furniture chases the unwanted guest from the house when all the humans' attempts have failed but my limited trials suggest that few kid get that far. Maybe it was too middle-class for the area I live in, maybe it was the more sophisticated narrative style. The Deadly Gang has little in it that even seems intend to be funny, being a semi-spoof Western with a diminutive, dog-riding hero. Mainly for the not-too-fussy who like a short read. Nothing here to go wild over but all are worth experimenting with on a small scale.