If a concise introduction to child and adolescent psychiatry is what you are looking for, then here it is. This is a reliable and up-to-date guide, encompassing what one must acknowledge is becoming a dauntingly large amount of new research and clinical evidence. Also, it is refreshing to have a brief history of child and adolescent psychiatry in a practical clinical compendium.

The authors openly acknowledge the isolation that marked the subspecialty during its latter ‘child guidance’ days, and point to the benefits that have flowed from academic child and adolescent psychiatry, as well as the present inclusion of services for children and adolescents in mainstream psychiatry and medicine.

The book starts with sections on normal development and the role of environmental influences, including family, school, peer relationships and the wider social context. Trainees and clinicians will find the section on general assessment procedures, and specifically ‘formulation’, particularly helpful for this is often a stumbling block in report writing. Clear plans and algorithms set out management and treatment recommendations. The evidence base for effective treatments points to a persisting lack of systematic research in family therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Clinical scenarios accompany almost all of the main disorders, but vary in quality. Perhaps this is in itself an indication of the need for further standardisation of our assessments and treatment in everyday clinical practice.

The wider service context is amply covered by describing the interfaces with partner agencies: school and educational psychology services, Social Services and safeguarding structures. The chapter on management will alert the trainee to the realities of service delivery. References to a well-selected list of key reading material are provided, although the list is not as uniformly comprehensive throughout the book.

The five authors, who among them straddle academic and clinical work, initially intended this book as primarily for the use of senior trainees in psychiatry and paediatrics. But it is clear that it will have a much wider appeal to any case-managing clinician and will meet the training and practice needs of a range of professionals. I would recommend this book to anyone starting in the field and, I have no doubt, will benefit from its use myself.