In this story, we meet three unlikely friends. Will spends a lot of his time caring for his mum and two younger brothers. He cooks, cleans, gets his siblings to school and looks after his mum, who is ill and often can't get out of bed. He also manages to fit in his side-hustle, earning him enough money to help with afterschool clubs for his brothers so that he can join the drama club again. He has attended Sherwood High since the start of Year 7, but with everything going on at home and his best friend, Liam, leaving, he is finding it harder to keep things under control.

Scarlet is new to Sherwood High. She hasn't been with her new foster family for long but knows that she wants to stay. She loves to dance and knows her new foster parents will support her with any clubs or activities she wants to do, but their daughter, Megan, is less happy with Scarlet moving in. Scarlet can put up with Megan if it means she gets to stay at her new home, but she's worried they won't want her if she gets into trouble.
Also new to Sherwood High is Robyn. She currently lives with her grandad, after her.parents separated. Her mum moved to Ireland and her dad is currently working in Italy. Robyn loves nothing more than helping out at her grandad's bike repair shop but he has started to forget things and if they aren't careful, things could become very dangerous, very quickly.

The three first meet in a detention, where none of them are really looking for friends but despite not having much in common, they learn the importance of having friends to share the difficult times with. When Acting Headteacher, Mr Nottingham starts cutting bursaries and limiting opportunities for certain groups of children, the new friends notice the unfairness of it all and end up caught up in a lot more trouble than  they were expecting.

This is a great story. I loved Runaways and the way that the author gives a voice to children we don't always see represented in books. This book is similar, in that it features children from underrepresented groups and unlikely friendships, without making things unrealistic. The characters are not perfect - they do the wrong things sometimes - but this is what makes them authentic and is what will allow real children to identify with them.

I've not yet read the author's Fablehouse books as I don't usually go for magical stuff, but on the strength of these last two books, will definitely be giving them a go.

Three friends, three different circumstances but all three looking for one thing: friendship. Will is trying cope as a carer for his mum whilst also looking after his younger brothers. Scarlet is in foster care and is desperate to stay where she is. Robyn is living with her grandfather, helping him in his bike shop whilst her dad is working in Italy; she's just starting at this school and wants nothing more than to keep her head down. But when the new head starts acting erratically and like a power-crazed monster, the three friends wonder what's going on. Together the they decide it's time to help those in need.

Outlaws is told in triple narrative to really give you an insight to the lives of each main character and it makes for effective reading.

For different reasons Will, Scarlet and Robyn are scared that aspects of their home lives will be discovered. They worry about saying too much and everything coming crashing down around them. With their headteacher being so discriminatory, picking on the most vulnerable kids in school, they feel they have no choice but to accept what's happening to them (when you read the book, you will understand why the head is somebody I wanted to punch in the nose for so many reasons). But as things get worse, they realise they have no choice but to find a way to help those who need it the most. I know Will, Scarlet and Robyn meet in after-school detention, but they are good kids just trying to do everything they can to make things right.

Publishing on the 2nd July, Outlaws is a story about acceptance in so many different forms: accepting yourself, accepting those who are different to you, accepting that it's ok to get things wrong at times. It's about friendship, being strong, standing up for yourself and searching for justice.

Robyn is going through a tough period, with challenges to deal with at home, when she meets Scarlet and Will - in, of all places, a school detention session. It's hardly the place where you expect to find new friends, but that is exactly what Robyn has done.

They are good kids really (despite being in detention!) Scarlet simply wants to find a way of staying in her current foster home, where she really likes the parents, and Will is having to grow up too quickly and is doing his best to look after his family under pretty adverse circumstances.

But in a situation where the head teacher seems determined to go out and pick on the children who are most vulnerable, can this unlikely trio find a way of setting things right?

A heartwarming story about friendship in unlikely places and the search for justice that is a quintessentially human preoccupation, this book will appeal to many young readers.