Cass the Brave
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Cass the Brave
Griselda Gifford's books for juniors are probably Britain's nearest equivalent to Judy Blume's pre-teen stories. Contrived and very safe, there's still room for them in schools till we're given better, though Cass is weaker than Jenny and the Sheep Thieves and Because of Blunder. Cass, the awkward one of the vicar's twins, picks a leaf from the churchyard fig tree, then worries that she'll die as legend predicts. Minor domestic catastrophes encourage her fears. Structure and length are just right; the drawings and caricatures all wrong for putative realism. Would we get similar-but-tougher for boys if more children's book editors were male?