Review: Brilliant childrens fiction.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
Review by Joshua Jackson. 13 Years of Age. New recruit to the Liz Loves Books Reviewing team covering YA and Childrens Fiction.Thank you to the author for the review copy.The poorest boy in school has just inherited 1 million. But there is a catch: If he can hold on to his cash for a whole year he will earn ten times that amount. Enter Felicity MacKenzie, the ugliest, sweatiest, vilest, cruelest, hairiest mother in the western world. When she steals her son’s money and goes on the spending spree to end all spending sprees it seems that Johnny Nothing will stay poor forever.Heart-warming, moral guided children’s books which combine varied and effective humour with a riveting, relatable yet imaginative story aren’t common and when an excellent example of this arrives it’s shouldn’t be passed up, this is especially true for Ian Probert’s wonderful novel Johnny Nothing.Johnny Nothing is exactly that: Nothing, two abusive parents who care little for him and a crumbling tower block is all he comes home to, however upon the reading of his isolated and antisocial uncles wills its Johnny Nothing who inherits the hefty sum of 1,000,000 along with the proposition that if he returns in one years’ time he will be given 10,000,000 provided he make a profit on his current amount. Yet a money crazed mother intent on using the money for her own personal gain means returning next year will be a challenge for Johnny.Quick and comedic writing gives excellent characterization of the people that inhabit Johnny’s world, and each chapter broken up by the books ability to stray unknowingly however contextually away from the story. The book is clearly narrated by a witty character who adds in anecdotes while explaining the story beautifully and never requiring you to re-read the previous page due to the vague nature of previous descriptors.The book itself has a strong sense of Roald Dahl about it and allows you to embrace your inner ten year old however the humour doesn’t lack sophistication or an appeal to adults and much of it will have adults as well as children in hysterics at the writing. However at times the humour can be lacklustre and doesn’t amuse or live up to the overall quality of the book.Despite a few rare lapses in quality Johnny Nothing is a funny, charming and loveable book that will appeal to adults as well as the children it was written for and those wanting to rekindle a love of children’s literature.