Name: Highway Robbery
ISBN: 9780370329574

Kate Thompson

On a cold day in eightheenth-century England, a poor young boy agrees to watch a stranger's fine horse for a golden guinea but soon finds himself in a difficult situation when the king's guard appears and wants to use him as bait in their pursuit of a notorious highwayman.

Highway Robbery

Sarah Sammis

Highway Robbery by Kate Thompson is a short chapter book with a lovely vintage feel to it. It has a few plates of pen and ink illustrations, something I've not seen in recently published books.

The story is told as a discussion between the main character, an un-named street urchin, and the reader who has presumably met the boy while going about his or her business.

The boy defensively explains why he's holding onto such a fine black mare, far better than any boy in his situation should ever have access to. He's been entrusted with the mare by a well dressed man who has business in town. The boy plans to take good care of the horse because it's more interesting than begging and if does a really good job, there might be extra coins in it for him.

In this dialog, the boy reveals details of his day and hints at who this mysterious man might be. One, of course, can guess from the title that the man in question is up to no good.

For a book where very little happens in the present, it's a quite the page turner. It can be read in one sitting.