The Bottle Boy

Echoes of Oliver Twist.

I enjoyed this adventure story, set around the turn of the twentieth century (?), with plenty of action and some vivid characters.

Mouse is a rather Oliver Twist style character whose only relative is his older brother, Vinnie. Vinnie considers Mouse nothing better than a dogsboddy and they both work for the Faginesque Mr Pinner, an antiques dealer. When Mouse decides he's had enough and makes a run for it, he has to survive on his wits. He has been told of a stash of antique glass bottles that have been used as land-fill and decides that he is going to earn a living by selling these. Unfortunately he's not the only one with this idea and his encounters with the Pendred Gang make for entertaining reading.
There was show more an interesting added feature with the inclusion of a Polish war refugee which gave the narrative an extra dimension.

Although written 18 years ago this was an enjoyable read, exciting enough that it would probably still be enjoyed by children today, especially as a read-aloud book.
This was the author's second book and he has since gone on the write many more, including some of the well known Oxford Reading Tree series. show less