"Andy Stanton, author of the wonderful Mr Gum series, has produced a little gem in Sterling And The Canary. Aimed at the pre-teen market, it is published by the excellent Barrington Stoke publishers and labelled 'dyslexia friendly' so has all the line spacing and friendly print to assist struggling readers. But what is best - for any reader - it is that Sterling And The Canary is a highly readable and very funny tale. The basic premise is that Sterling Thaxton is in love, absolutely besotted, with Lizzie Harris, the beautiful new girl at school. His failed attempts to win her affections - there are comedy rain clouds over him whenever he gets his heart broken - anchor the plot but as usual with Stanton it is the witty language that will have kids laughing. At one point, Sterling 'flopped around the house like a bored pancake'. Sterling ends up enlisting the help of a talking canary to get the girl - setting up some wonderful scenes as he tries to woo Lizzie. It's all wrapped up in a clever and positive ending. First class stuff." - MARTIN CHILTON, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH