The After School Crime Club by Hayley Webster
Published by Nosy Crow

FOR children who struggle to fit in or make friends at school, it can be difficult not to wonder what you’re doing wrong.

The After School Crime Club, coming out on Thursday is empathetic to this, but does not stop at exploring it, injecting into this familiar loneliness a hope and wisdom that makes it required reading for young people going through a difficult adjustment.

In this book we are guided through the turbulence of trying to connect to family and peers with Webster’s engaging and emotionally intelligent prose.

Willow’s first year of secondary school is fast approaching but the worry of that change is perhaps the last thing on her mind as her beloved Nanna has just passed away.

Having always felt like a loner in school, never quite able to properly join in with the friendships of her peers, she had relied on regular visits to her Nanna in which they’d watched old movies, especially musicals.

Through this passion, and researching it, Willow settles on the simplistic and peaceful dream of working in a cinema. However, in an effort to widen her options, her mum signs her up for an after-school study group at the local book shop.

At first she’s begrudging, however, it is not the studying aspect of this club that will go on to change her whole world and perspective.

Among those attending the group, she feels immediately drawn to the mysterious Tay Welding, rumoured to be a rule breaker, and so, when she’s approached by popular girl Marie with the proposition of a secret society of rebels, Willow

feels intrigued and included for the first time.

Marie begins to set her challenges, or “dares” with a promise it will solidify a friendship with Tay and the rest of the group. As these start off small, Willow is propelled to try to break a couple rules. As she’s never felt a part of anything, there’s something thrilling about the idea of having friends to laugh and share experiences with, but as the challenges go on, it seems to be something else entirely.

Willow’s conscience is tested as she’s asked to steal things of more significance, and with her Nanna’s voice in the back of her mind she begins to realise that, even though she’s never had many, this is not what real friendship feels like.

As the story progresses, so does the guilt Willow feels for her actions, and the pressure from Marie to do more.

There is a true discomfort the reader will feel along with this protagonist as her vulnerability and loss are exploited.

This, however, is absolutely necessary to capture what it is to be covertly bullied, pushed into a corner by those who pretend to be friends.

This is a novel not only for children who have gone through something similar, but for anyone going through a major change and looking to find their place with the right people. Hope and real friendship prevail as Webster guides a path out of peer pressure.