Age 8-11

Pattenden’s first novel is reminiscent of Lemony Snicket, but instead of featuring innocent children who come to grief in a harsh world, it stars a terrible child who is treated kindly. It relates, with dark humour, the history and misdeeds of evil-minded, 12-year-old arsonist Agatha Bilke (from, it is true, an unloving family), who is sent to the TreadQuietly Clinic for Interesting Children to be reformed. Her fellow patients have bizarre character flaws such as a fear of toast or of meteorites falling on their heads, and are “treated” by well- intentioned but lunatic role-play intended to encourage empathy with inanimate objects. The story unfolds with refreshing impropriety, eccentric metaphors, unexpected satirical touches and whimsical wordplay to a happyish resolution, and is entertainingly punctuated by the author’s quirky and stylish drawings of, for instance, a sunbathing meteor. This book, available in both fiery red and burnt orange with a singed hole through its cover, announces the arrival of a new children’s fiction list from the publisher and of an author with a notable, idiosyncratic voice and eye.

(Short Books £5.99) NJ

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