Changes

In fairness to Rundell , I actually think she's quite a good writer in many ways, to judge from this book. The descriptions of Africa are beautiful and when she's talking about people's looks she has a really nice turn of phrase – I particularly liked a girl being described as having 'patent-leather shoes' and a 'patent-leather sort of face to match'. It's just when these characters actually do something that things go wrong. The plot is fairly standard – nothing to write home about, the expected issues with fitting in for Will and her desperate effort to make things better. (Sorry, I'd like to go into more detail but we're halfway through the book or so by the time she gets toboarding school so it's approaching serious spoiler territory to talk too much about what she does when she gets there, and I try to avoid that.) That said, some of the sequences could have been enjoyable if I'd been able to bring myself to care about Will, or anyone else, more than I actually did.

Glass]] to be a far more satisfying and complex story of Africa. They might also enjoy [[Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne]]. Youngerreaders looking for the story of a misfit at boarding school will, Ithink, find [[The Worst Witch to the Rescue by Jill Murphy]] rather moreentertaining.