Three very different and very interesting books insightfully reviewed for the Blog by Bridget Carrington
We begin with an excellent independently published book. Alfie Jones and a Change of Fortune by David Fuller (RDF Publishing 2011).A winner! As we’ve discovered before, books from independent publishers and those which are self-published are a very mixed bag, and those publishers can get very aerated if their product is adversely criticised! David Fuller’s Alfie Jones and a Change of Fortune shows just how good independently published books can be.
Alfie is nine years old and his passion is football. He has always loved playing for Kingsway Colts, where he is one of their stars, but when their elderly coach is taken ill, his replacement is only interested in promoting his own son, Jasper. Jasper and his father are bullies, and Alfie is, quite literally, sidelined for every match. Luckily, he meets a mysterious fortune-teller, Madame Zola, who helps him beat the bullies.
This book is great fun, with plenty of excitement and humour, ably assisted by Rob Smyth’s illustrations. But it has very serious undertones, showing how adults as well as peers can bully children, and the effect this can have on the object of this bullying. Although Alfie is supported by his friends, he isn’t by his parents who, although they are not unkind, have no interest in Alfie’s passion for and skill in football. Instead they support Alfie’s sister’s passion for dancing. There are also positive elderly characters: Jimmy Grimshaw, the old coach, and Madame Zola, untidy, scatty, but the catalyst which empowers Alfie to outwit the bullies.
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