Title: Blame
Author: Simon Mayo
Publisher: Corgi Children’s

Pupil review

Written collaboratively by The Wellington Academy Year 9 reading group - Josh Pratt, Conor White, Terreza Stephanie and Alex Gurung - and by Julie-Anne White, Year 11.

Plot

Blame is about a new family prison in London, where you go if your parents or family members committed a crime in the past. The main character, Abi Norton Turner (Ant), is involved in the majority of the action.

Criminals who commit fraud against the government are made to serve time in prison as justice. However, the criminals’ families - including innocent victims caught up in this system, like Ant - are also made to serve time in prison as well. Ant cunningly finds ways to escape and make prison life easier, double-crossing the prison guards.

The storyline initially was a bit difficult to understand because we had to keep referring back to the glossary of prison slang at the start of the book. This made reading it a bit start-stop. We felt it wasn’t gripping enough at the start, but once we had read on, we started to understand. We got used to the slang and enjoyed the storyline more.

When the action picks up, Mayo is very good at keeping the reader guessing and making the storyline interesting. The plot builds up to an exciting climax when Ant beats up Clarke, who is from another prison, and the battle between the prisons really starts to kick off.

Some moments we felt were really intense, especially involving Ant. We liked that it felt mysterious at times, because we didn’t know what might happen next.

Characters

Conor: My favourite character has been Ant. I like her because she is daring, funny and likes to get into trouble. She made me feel like I was always questioning what she was going to do next, which made me want to read on and find out what her next move would be.

Terreza: I liked Ant, but she did make me feel on-edge and scared at times because she was always taking risks.

Julie-Anne: Ant, the main character, is proud, calculating, strong, brave and reckless. The building and development of the characters is incredibly strong and realistic. The author characterises Ant as having her head half-shaved - although still attractive, as some of the men in the book, like Bran and Jimmy, seem to try and flirt with her.

Josh: I think Ant, Matti, Dan, Gina and Grey are good characters, as they are interesting and make me want to read on, the more I find out about them.

Our opinion

Conor: I really enjoyed the book. There are funny parts and some scary moments to keep you interested. Having a character like Ant, who is a rebel and doesn’t care about the rules, made the book good in my opinion.

Julie-Anne: This book is astonishingly convincing, outstripping the rules of society, and has very intelligent, imaginative storytelling.

I love that Mayo has made Ant a heroine figure who is portrayed as strong, fearless and bad-ass.

This book is well-paced and very captivating. For someone like me who doesn’t really read thrillers, I can definitely say I appreciate the skill involved in writing this book and the original imaginative storyline. Even I was hooked. I loved it.

Josh: Based on the chapters I have read so far, I am really enjoying it because of the strong main character, the moments that are really intense and the mystery of not knowing what might happen next.

Teacher review

Although it took the group a little while to warm to the book and understand some of the vocabulary related to its context, the discussions soon turned much more positive the more the group read. In particular, they all found a fondness and admiration for the rebellious and loyal nature of the main character, Ant.

I’m not sure that the book is necessarily aimed at their age group (13-14 year olds). However, the strength of the main character and the fact that the action picked up as they moved through the book meant that they did connect with and enjoy it.

Kirsty Biggenden is Year 9 progress leader at The Wellington Academy, in Wiltshire

If you or your class would like to write a review for TES, please contact Adi Bloom at adi.bloom@tesglobal.com

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