Mystery At The Mill by Elspeth Rawstron (Helbling Languages, £6.99)

Those familiar with the black and white drawings of Nick Tankard at Salts Mill can see more of his work in a newly-published book, Mystery At The Mill, a story by Elspeth Rawstron, in which working conditions of children in Victorian mills are paralleled by sweatshop labour on the Indian Sub-Continent.

The collapse last month of an eight-storey factory block in Bangladesh, which killed more than 200 including young women and children, adds weight to this storyline.

Indeed, one of the short case histories used by the schoolgirl heroine Caterina to illustrate the problem of child labour in the Third World is Anika, who says: “I’m 12-years-old and I live in Bangladesh. My father and mother work in a clothes factory. They don’t earn very much so they can’t afford to send me to school.

“My sister and I have to work in the factory, too. My sister is only nine years old. Maybe I made the hooded top you’re wearing while you were out enjoying yourself with your friends.”

Nowadays stories have to serve a social purpose - but the three illustrated case histories that occupy only a page-and-a-half are not extraneous to the story being told. In fact, there are two stories, a modern one and one from the 19th century involving Caterina’s great-great-grandmother Emily.

In the modern one, Caterina upsets her friend Jake by proposing to demonstrate outside his uncle Sanjit’s new Bradford clothes shop, Boho Chic, on Market Street.

Because she wants Jake’s support, she gives him the old leather notebook in which Emily’s story is recounted. Jake reads it and is persuaded that Caterina’s cause is a worthy one.

Elspeth splices together the two stories, pacing them appropriately to each arrive at their respective dramatic turning points.

Both stories involve skullduggery and wrong-doing, although they carry a different moral weight, unless you think there is no difference between stealing cloth in 1859 to make ends meet and exploiting child labour in 21st century Uzbekistan to make a killing.

Nick Tankard’s illustrations are drawn and coloured in two styles to reflect the complimentary stories. The 19th century ones are closer to his gothic Saltaire pictures, less bright and cheery than the others.

Mystery At The Mill isn’t just a story book for children - it is also a language learning book. There are introductory contextualising pages before the story starts and a dozen more after it ends that might assist a teacher. Throughout there are foot-of-the-page glossaries and idea suggestions for class discussions.