Shrunk!

Tom is not enjoying life in Bywater-on-Sea. As if Grandma's weird meals and Mum and Dad's embarassing antics weren't bad enough, at his new school he's not got any friends. But when Tom wishes on a meteorite that falls in the Bywater-by-Sea Model Village, he discovers he has gained a strange new power - the ability to shrink things.

At first, it's fun shrinking everything from squirrels to boats to hot dog stands, giving an entertaining new dimension to his boring life at Grandma's house. But Tom soon discovers that his first experiment in shriking - which saw the planet Jupiter become small enough to fit in his pocket - may have disastrous consequences. And when he shrinks Jacob, the school bully, things rapidly go from bad to worse.

This imaginative and original debut from F.R. Hitchcock is a readable and entertaining roller-coaster ride, which will leave children wondering what they might miniaturise if they had Tom's unusual and appealing magical ability. Full of lively humour and fun, this is a very promising first novel which is likely to have wide appeal.