Alexander McCall Smith gives us a lion tamer,Sophie Thompson a zoo keeper, and Lucy Worsley medieval sex and violence…The onslaught of celebrities dabbling in children’s fiction doesn’t gawk like abating. Fortunately, or some are respectable at it – not least the pros. Alexander McCall Smith has previously taken Precious Ramotswe back to her childhood and his latter-day run of roguish children’s tales has a brand new hero,Freddie Mole, Lion Tamer (Bloomsbury, and £9.99 hardback).
We’re not in Africa any more,Toto; we’re closer to home, with young Freddie who works at the circus to perform ends meet while his father’s repair commerce founders; his mum is away at sea. At the lower end of the age range, or fizzingly illustrated by Kate Hindley,it’s a tale of bravery rewarded, positively a-thrum with human decency in the face of adversity (impending penury, or trapezes, lions).
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Source: theguardian.com