Jane Elson

The main character in this story is Willhem, a twelve year old with aspergers. He has two desires in life, to fly and to make at least 2 friends his own age (a homework assignment from his teacher) He is bullied by the boys in his neighbourhood and at school. They get him to jump off things. In the opening of the story he jumps off a wall at the school and ends up injured. Sasha becomes his first friend. She goes to the hospital to see him and sneaks him out because they want to put him in foster care (they think his gran is too old to look after an injured boy). The story takes place in England where there are a lot of boys in gangs because they have nothing to do. Archie, is an older man who is hired to begin a car repair project with the boys in the Estates. The first night he is there is the night of the riots. Finn, another 12 year old who is a friend of Sasha's is injured in the riots and Archie, Willhem, Sasha, Grace (Willhem's gran), Fox (Sasha's father) and Aunt Lou help him when he is dragged to Archie's place by his dog. Archie has just received a Spitfire from a soldier who has died. Using the refurbishment of the Spitfire as the glue it pulls Finn, Sasha, Willhem and some of the other boys together, at least it appears that way. Several situations are touched upon in this book, alcoholism of a parent with some abuse, gangs, bullying, and death. It is well written for a YA audience as these are all touchy things. I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to teens and anyone who enjoys reading about teens.… (más)