Jack by Tony Wilson

Stuff happens series. Puffin, 2014. ISBN 9780143308225.
(Ages: 8+) Recommended. Boys' stories, School and home, Humour. Stories about boys, aimed at boys and containing real life stories of their school and home life are rare. Even rarer are those that have readily identifiable characters and situations, and engage, amuse and inform. But here they are. Four stories in this brand new series, Stuff happens, are aimed straight at these boys, those who want a scenario they are familiar with, with kids their own age in scraps and situations which are familiar, with outcomes that really happen. Jack and his friends decide to play a tag game during break on the oval. But this ends with a tackle which the school has forbidden and Jack breaks his arm. His friend Fadi was the first one to jump on him, and gets the blame. To avoid any consequences, Jack and the others lie to the teacher about what they were doing, and Fadi receives all the blame. But conscience is a wonderful thing and eventually it gets the better of Jack.
This is a wonderfully realistic story of a group of friends playing at school, and the consequences of lying.
Fran Knight