THE BULLY OF BARKHAM STREET

**Martin Hastings, the bully on the block, didn't care if he had any friends. He knew the world of Tom Sawyer was gone forever. Guys like Edward Frost had friends, but Martin thought Edward Frost was both a ""pain and a pest"". He knew ""he was a fat bully who talked too much that nobody wanted on their team or in their club or anything"". When his dog Rufus, his only companion and friend, was taken away from him, Martin was left to struggle, to lash out, to fight-- in his lonely world. He was the biggest in his class, and a year older than all the others. It was tough being the biggest (and the fattest). Martin's lonely life, his efforts to make his way out of his isolation, his boyish confusion about the other guys on the block, are narrated in Huck Finn fashion, by Martin himself. The author deserves the highest praise for successfully poking and probing into the sensitive, comical lives of vigorous young boys, with a Twainean insight. A sequel to A Dog Barkham Street (1960, p.50, J-18) this record of the same events from a different viewpoint, will be good, enjoyable reading for boys (and girls) and may find some enthusiastic readers in the next older age group.