The bullies in this short novel are real horrors. Older kids in the big comprehensive where the Willow Street Kids have just started, they don't just menace, they beat up the younger ones and demand money. This is a story with plot and movement and characterisation. If it is didactic too, it still holds interest. Mr Guess, an understanding teacher who takes the kids for Personal and Social Education, is the one whom the children feel they can tell about the bullying. One of the bullies, who repeats her behaviour, is expelled, and the school develops a set of rules made clear to everyone. Believable dialogue and a jaunty tone make the story real.