Sophie is the only pupil to join the book club for fun, but it's cut short when th headmaster stuffs it with David and other English remedial students, including Christine, who manages to get watching movie versions accepted. Because her demerits approach the expulsion limit, Hazle must 'volunteer' for an extracurricular project, building a hydraulic water-pump. Alas it means cutting down the peppercorn tree she planted with her ma, so she seeks Jonathan's and Mattie's advice to start an environmentalist campaign. Rebecca seeks a cause of her own in vain, but comes up with a historical solution for the tree.
—KGF Vissers