SuitabookPoverty and social support
Shona’s family has little money after her father’s benefits are cut, while her grandmother is ill.
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Book details
Michael Rosen, illustrated by Tony Ross - Author
This offers a contemporary child’s perspective on poverty and family difficulty, deliberately read beside Oliver Twist. Its strongest feature is the connection between classroom literature and problems affecting Shona’s life.
Book Brief
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Sign in for personalised guidanceThis offers a contemporary child’s perspective on poverty and family difficulty, deliberately read beside Oliver Twist. Its strongest feature is the connection between classroom literature and problems affecting Shona’s life.
Shona’s family has little money after her father’s benefits are cut, while her grandmother is ill.
Shona recognises similarities between her life and Oliver’s while her class reads Dickens.
An older boy offers Shona a phone in detention, although she cannot afford one and does not know what he wants in return.
The book includes financial hardship, a sick grandmother, reduced benefits and an older boy’s conditional offer of a phone. Dickens-related discussion also includes crime and antisemitism.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; another book-specific source is still needed.
Anything not established here remains open; it is not being treated as absent or safe.
These links show the original reading lists. Inclusion is not a guarantee of suitability for your child.