HAS it been done before? A novel in verse? Perhaps it's what used to be called an epic poem.

Anyway, written while its author was writer-in-residence at the Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle, Wall tells a story of teenagers living in and around Byker's eponymous Wall, especially 15-year-old Kylie and her dysfunctional family:

Mam's at the hospital
Dad's at the crees.
Sean's off his heed.
What about me
On me tod, watching daytime tv

Kylie's pregnancy complicates things. Aimed at teenagers, Wall paints a vivid, valuable picture of inner-city life among young people in the early 21st Century.