51 years old, and more widely known in the UK as A Hundred Million Francs, this rereads as potently as ever, despite the by-now somewhat clunky translation (the always tricky problem of slang). Gaby’s is I think the BEST KID GANG EVER — t[…]

Joan Tate was a friend of the family: her lovely husband Clive worked closely with my dad on wildlife stuff; her kids babysat me and my sister when we were very wee and mum and dad wanted to go off and do young ppl’s dancing and that; and she w[…]

My parents brought me up to be an Enid Blyton snob so I never read any of the FAMOUS FIVE stories — for me the kids-in-gangs-solve-crimes milieu begins a bit obliquely, with E.Nesbit (intra-family adventures in and around the home, no crimes so[…]

ICE STATION ZEBRA by Alistair Maclean
This was in the library of the school I left aged 12, so was probbly 9 or 10 when I first read it. This is OK: it’s Bond-for-preteens viz NO SEX!! In fact, in Zebra at least, NO WOMEN AT ALL hurrah er boo a[…]