Changes

I loved this story. It's short and sharp and very, very passionate. Bali Rai, a favourite in these 'ere parts, has written an afterword talking about poverty and inequality in the UK and the shame and stigma associated with it. It's an angry afterword and I share Rai's anger. We must resist the slide into becoming a mean society whose most striking characteristic is a lack of empathy. But ''The Harder They Fall'' isn't a misery-fest. It's a story of the power of friendship and hope more than it is a story of degradation. The friendship between Cal, Freya and the initially unwilling Jacob is one of equals. As it should be. As both a powerful critique of inequality and a passionate defence of friendship as a unifying force, ''The Harder They Fall'' is successful on two levels.

''The Harder They Fall'' is part of Barrington Stoke's ''super-readable'' range. This means it comes in with a low word count, carefully-selected font, double-spaced text, and is printed on thick, non-glare paper. This makes it suitable for both dyslexic and reluctant readers. But don't think this makes it in any way ''simple''. It has a complex thematic depth and fans of the current vogue for short, sharp fiction - even those who like the flash fiction format - will love it too. Barrington Stoke puts the reading age at 13+ but, a single, fairly chaste kiss and and an off-page encounter with a bully's violence aside, there's nothing in here that I'd be afraid to allow a younger child to read.