Pete Johnson

Yearling

0440868173

Jun 2008

The frail, fickle nature of fame has been a recurring theme in Pete Johnson’s fiction, in ‘I’d Rather Be Famous’, astute comment was made as to the types of decision that are driven only by outward appearance, by what others think rather than what we ourselves actually feel. In ‘The Hero Game’, Charlie’s idolisation of his grandfather and his sheer determination to immortalise him are challenged by revelations as to his grandfather’s past, that he finds difficult to equate with his present perception of his uncle.
‘How to get Famous’ sees friends Tobey and Georgia desperately seeking the lime-light but learning the bitter consequences that follow failure and rejection. This is exacerbated further still by the crushing humiliation Tobey faces at an audition in which Georgia is successful. Pressures of personal hopes that are defeated alongside the achievement of friends’ achievement places friendship into a fragile context.
In a surprise turn, however, Johnson achieves a twist that demonstrates incisively the spontaneous manner via which we affect and influence others through our actions as compared with the forced nature of acting and rehearsal.
Tobey’s comic capers, retold through an approachable epistolary style, make for a humorous and affectionately told story that is elevated through the characteristic social comments and human observations that permeate this author’s work.

Michael Lawrence

Orchard Books

140830273X

Jul 2008

Another welcome and wit-filled outing for Jiggy McCue sees the hapless protagonist assume the leading role in a new television series ‘Kid Swap’ where children from families with different socio-econimic backgrounds and systems of belief are brought together in a ‘light-the-blue-touch-paper’ and watch the chaos ensue type fashion…
The near-universal base of Jiggy’s various mishaps and humiliations will make these familiar for many and thereby extending a sense of affinity towards him. Underlying the laugh-out-loud plot-lines, lies a caution as to the importance of privacy in adolescene, the ability to make our own mistakes, to fall prey to our doubts and emotions and ultimately to develop and grow because of that. Accordingly, as an adult reader, it is hard not to breathe a sigh of relief that Jiggy attains some form of reprieve by the end of novel and that his late childhood remains his own, not sold-off or commoditised.

Michael Lawrence

Orchard Books

1846164710

Jul 2007

Exploration of the effects of chance and caprice feels familiar territory to Michael Lawrence. Following on from consideration that is firmly rooted in the philosophical consequences of the decisions and choices we each of us play out in ‘The Aldous Lexicon’, Lawrence writes with a humorous frivolity that is immediately accessible and, at points, feels to be reaction against the depths and intricacies of ‘The Underwood See’.
Back for his ninth adventure, the hapless Jiggy McCue finds himself transported to a parallel world in which he becomes divorced from his familiar motley crew of musketeers. In itself, this highlights Lawrence’s aptitude for revealing the inner-workings and mechanics of group friendships, social interaction and communal thoughts and actions ‘ an understanding that places his series alongside stalwarts of children’s literature, Nesbit and Blyton, who showed similar awareness and ability to convey this effectually through unembellished, fast-moving prose style.
Literary influences figure highly in Michael Lawrence’s body of work, as he quite correctly asserts in his preface, this is not done ‘slavishly’ here, but rather creates parallels that are parodied ‘ and sometimes ridiculed(!) ‘ adding to the jovial nature of the predicaments Jiggy encounters.
Cleverly interweaving details and character facets from the previous books in the series, this is absurdist humour at its unequivocal best ‘ belly laughs abound in this rib-tickled read!