Handles

Blurb

Handles is a realistic children's novel by Jan Mark, first published in 1983 by Kestrel Books of Harmondsworth, London, with illustrations by David Parkins. Set in the Norfolk countryside, it features a city girl on holiday, who loves motorcycles. Nicholas Tucker calls it "a happy, optimistic work"; Erica escapes "mean-minded relatives" for the "anarchic motorbike-repair outfit in a nearby town".
Mark and Handles won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. Thus she became the third writer with two such honors, having won the 1976 Medal for her debut novel Thunder and Lightnings. Also set in the Norfolk countryside, it features two boys who love aeroplanes.
Atheneum Books published the first U.S. edition in 1985, retaining the Parkins illustrations.