The 31 papers in this volume are largely drawn from the 14th Annual International Interdisciplinary Colloquium held at the Law School of University College, London, in 2010.

Like all volumes of this kind that contain a diverse range of papers of varying quality, it is not easy to review. A good starting point is Freeman's own contribution in which he articulates an argument for a ‘sociology of children's right’; that is, forward looking and persuasive.

Of similar merit is the paper by John Tobin from the Melbourne Law School ‘Courts and the construction of childhood: A new way of thinking’. In this paper Tobin sets out the three models of childhood that have shaped current legal thinking. These are the proprietary model, the welfare model (that underlies most Australia child protection legislation) and the rights based model. This is, by far, the most thorough presentation of the three models and the implications for the Courts of adopting the rights based model that I have had the benefit of reading.

Another Australian contribution is from Ben Matthews from the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology. His contribution is titled ‘Exploring the contested role of mandatory reporting law in identification of severe child abuse and neglect’. This is a very comprehensive examination of all the available data on this topic from across Australia. In that respect it is an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in the effectiveness, or otherwise, of mandatory reporting laws.

The third Australian contribution is from Bronwyn Naylor and Bernadette Saunders from both Law and Social Work at Monash University whose paper ‘Parental discipline, criminal law and responsive regulation’ will certainly be of interest to many readers of Children Australia.

Other papers are about domestic violence, children's sexual behaviour and criminal law, disability, health research, family law and parental relocation, as well as there being many more rich topics. There is also much about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and European human rights legislation that may have implications for childrens’ rights.

Papers from countries such as Bangladesh, Nigeria and Tanzania, as well as a paper that discusses issues from an Israeli–Palestinian perspective, make up the volume and are of interest, but possibly to only a limited number of readers.