Mixed Pickles - the Book log 2012

I never knew that teenage fiction was quite as strong as this. I picked it up by accident (it was on the "New Books" shelf at the library) and the opening paragraphs hooked me before I realised that its target market was about a quarter of my age.



The book tackles important themes; bullying, loneliness, homophobia, tolerance, learning trust, and parallels its contemporary plot with another set in a fantasy land created by the lead characters.There is just a tiny echo of some of the works of Alan Garner - anyone who remembers "The Owl Service" will agree that cross-over didn't start with Philip Pullman and JK Rowling. "The Traitor Game" is intelligent, honest and worthwhile without being worthy, and the book is only occasionally let down by the fact that its author(ess) has never been a teenage boy so gets a few notes just a tiny bit off key. This shouldn't be sufficient to put anyone off reading it however; even someone as old as me can appreciate both the craft and the caring that has gone into writing it.