Steve & FranDan Take on the World

Ron Butlin Twelve-year-old Steve has had enough. Enough of bullies on the street and on his phone, and enough of adults messing up the world. Sharp-witted Fran and her worry-wart brother, Dan, feel exactly the same. And so, along with his dog Nessie, Steve and the twins leave town in the dead of night to start on the biggest adventure of their lives.

The trio raft downriver to a cave formerly inhabited by a hermit, where they plan to stay for a few days.

However, truly escaping the world proves to be a greater challenge than they first anticipated. Despite Fran’s orders, Steve finds it difficult to ignore his phone and the question of sustenance weighs on their minds.

A mysterious package at the back of the cave shows that someone else, a dangerous someone, wanted to hide something there too. When they return to claim it, the ever resourceful Fran must come up with a plan to avert disaster.

Steve’s struggles against cyberbullies are realistically represented and sympathetically handled even as the plot takes them on a fantastic adventure amidst familiar surroundings.

A celebrated poet, novelist and formerly Edinburgh’s Laureate, Ron Butlin began writing for children in 2015 and clearly relishes the enterprise. This is an adventure story for today’s world.

From the novel’s first page, the verve of his prose draws the reader energetically along. The pace is brisk, the style is wry and snappy, and the characters are a delight.