The lessons at Zachary Zween's school seem to consist solely of taking walking tours of London. And since his last name begins with Z, Zween is always last in line, bringing up the tail end.

He is jealous of Albert Ames for a while, since Ames always gets to go first, but Zween is able to find the silver lining to his position in life. (Wait! Is this all a metaphor for the English class system?)

I only wish the climax of the story didn't have Zween being unable to fit in the passenger cars with the rest of his classmates and getting an invitation from a train employee to "Ride with me, son, in my van!" -- like a predator picking off the straggler from a herd. Talk about creepy! ( )

I loved this book as a kid and I still have it. I blame all my anglophilia on this book :) ( )