RIVERSIDE - The Movie

Riverside The Movie is number ten in the Riverside series and is bound to be read with delight both by Irish fans and young Norwegians into whose language all the books have been translated.

We are back with the Bray Riverside junior soccer team in its usual state of flux. Star players George and Ginger could give lessons to professional, cross-channel players as they harass Jimmy, their reluctant trainer. But Jimmy is not concerned with the coming season. He has been browbeaten by Victor, who has just attended film making lessons, into scripting a documentary about the life of Budgie Ryan, the greatest and mainly forgotten soccer player ever to come out of Bray who is now facing old age and Alzheimer's.

The book tingles with the salt of the sea air and the reality of life in Bray. It embraces young characters and adult characters in a highly comic, disrespectful style. There are scenes that stand comparison with Flann O'Brien, especially those involving the burial of the amputated leg of Budgie. "Flintstone said that after showing Budgie's left foot being buried in the grave, a caption should have been flashed on the screen, saying 'More to Follow'." Great fun. Readers will have no trouble identifying with the lads' attitudes and the world they live in. Great illustrations by Terry Myler.

RIVERSIDE - The Movie. By Peter Egan. Illustrated by Terry Myler.  The Children's Press €5.99 Ages 9 +

Tony Hickey