April 2016, Piccadilly Press, 272 pages, Paperback, Review copy
Summary from Piccadilly Press
Woody wants to get un-weird – and fast! And he’ll find help in the most unlikely of places.
Woody is forever worried about being different. He thinks himself
weird and a bit of a wuss, and two bullies Della and Casey make sure he
doesn’t forget that. It doesn’t help that his mum is slightly bonkers.
She dresses up as a sheep for a living – mostly for her job as a
children’s entertainer. And not to mention the fact that she forces
Woody to wear old granny jumpers that she finds down the local charity
shop. Gooner the dog doesn’t help either, always getting Woody in some
awkward, smelly and rather messy situations!
But Woody’s got a plan to get unweird – and fast! Just in time for
his first day at secondary school. He starts off with some rules . . . ‘Don’t listen to Mum about anything to do with your life, ever’. . .and. . .‘don’t wear old lady clothes’. And
with the help of his way more normal, yet rather extravagant GlamMa and
the discovery of his Dad’s peculiar lucky charm, he soon finds a new
sense of charm, un-weirdness and a heap load of shenanigans come his
way!
Nayu's thoughts
Warning: this review involves total fangirl bias because I love Dawn's other work, and
happily loved William as soon as I met him. His family is not the so
called norm of 2.5 children. It's him with a super hippy mother who
can't even entertain the idea that he may have personal preferences
over what style clothes he wears and what he eats, and her partner who William dislikes. And Gooner, who is a loveable and despicable at the same time!
New school means a
new William-notice how I don't call him by his 'name' of Woody?
William makes changes despite the universe at times being a bit
against him. He places all his faith in a momento from his father,
and has no idea that it is worthless and he already had the inner
confidence to change himself, he just needed to lure it out. He thinks he needs to separate himself from his previous friends (kind of) but he learns that doesn't work, and he can evolve at the same time as keeping them.
There
are plenty of mishaps which at the time William thinks will ruin his
reputation, but the opposite happens. I was thrilled when he was able
to feel 'normal' thanks to his new grandmother, her going overboard
helps him out more than she will ever know. I doubt there's anyone who
can't relate to wanting to change at least a part of themselves,
which means it's a perfect read for everyone, cringe moments and all.
Another rereadable story from Dawn! (Still hoping the next one is
with a girl protagonist though!)
Find out more on Dawn's website.
Suggested reading
Another great read from Dawn is Worry Magic by Dawn McNiff (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)
and my favourite from Dawn is Little Celeste by Dawn McNiff (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)
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| Absolutely adore the covers for both of these books! |
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