Run, Jimmy, run by Malachy Doyle

Wired series. A and C Black, 2012. ISBN 978 14081 12592.
(Age: 11+) Recommended. High interest, low literacy. Jimmy steals some money from his father's wallet and packs his rucksack to run away. He has not thought any further ahead than that, wanting to escape school and the bully, Daz. But on the train, he turns around to find that Daz is on the same train. When the conductor comes to take his ticket, Daz sidles up and takes Jimmy's, telling the conductor that it is his, forcing Jimmy to pay again. When the train comes into the station, Jimmy runs like hell, trying to escape the bully, and several chapters show his efforts at shaking the boy off.
An involving short story, all readers will have some experience of the fear that another person can engender, and feel for Jimmy as he finds a safe place to be.
As with the other books in the Wired and Wired up series, these have wide margins and larger print, designed to attract the child for whom reading is a chore or difficult. The stories are all high action, involving and well told, drawing the non reader into the plot quickly and effectively. A quick read or one for lower literacy readers, these fill a niche alongside Lightning Strikes.
Fran Knight