by Ross Montgomery
 
"If you're reading this letter then it means I've finally escaped. When I first came to the County Detention Centre, they said I had to tell them the truth about what happened- when it all began, who did what, why we did it, why it ended the way it did..." A brilliantly funny but also thoughtful story about a protected community, created by over anxious parents. The village of Barrow constructs rules and myths about external 'dangers'- bears and tornados- and, in doing so, polices its children with a high-vis yellow uniform, curfews and threats of detention. But the town hasn't accounted for Owen, nor for his discovery that his grandparents were famous Tornado Chasers... nor for a band of bold and defiant children, including Murderous Pete, coming together to question the rules and to form their own tornado chasing society. A brilliantly inventive, original and totally hilarious adventure which also hints at the dangers of a risk-averse culture (n.b.: Owen has a condition called 'startling' and one of his mates, Ceri, wears leg braces in a superbly 'incidental' representation of disability). Age 9-12 , Paperback 277pp
 
Themes: Disabilities