Liccle Bit by Alex Wheatle

Book of the Week: 5 February 2017

Jerome, or Liccle Bit as he is nicknamed because of his lack of height, lives on the South Crongton estate with his hard-working Mum, Gran, sister Elaine and her baby son Lemar. It’s a tough neighbourhood, sometimes dominated by battles with the neighbouring North Crongton gang, but Jerome has his friends Jonah and McKay to hang out with, plus the attention of Venetia King, the hottest girl in school, who wants him to use his artistic talent to draw her portrait. He thinks his overcrowded home-life has its compensations until he is approached by chief gangster Manjaro, who also happens to be the father of his sister’s child. Elaine has tried to make sure Manjaro is out of her life but he wants contact with his baby son and is angling to get back in their lives by involving Jerome in running errands. When these errands stop seeming so harmless, Jerome is caught up in a world of serious crime and wonders how he can escape.

This is the first book in the Crongton series that feature the same characters. Alex Wheatle won the 2016 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for his second one, Crongton Knights and has a third, Straight Outta Crongton, due out in early April. If told with the same humour, convincing characters and setting as Liccle Bit, it’s sure to be a success.

If you enjoy this, you may like a more serious read written for adults, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, which is available from the School Library. It has a similar setting and story.