Only children; three hilarious short stories by David Baddiel

Only Children is three short stories that will engage the reader with quirky characters.

The first character is Alfie, a boy with a routine, actually multiple routines!  He has a routine for everything in his life and everybody in his house follows them.  That is until his regular babysitter isn’t available and his parents have a very important meeting to attend.  Enter Mrs Stokes, she doesn’t do routines, she won’t follow the schedule and she tells Alfie to do what he likes!  And this is when things start to get weird!!!

Then comes Chrissie, a girl who has loved trains for as long as she can remember even though she has never been on one. When the day comes for Chrissie to travel to London by train for an important operation, things don’t go exactly as planned. Along for this magical ride is her Grandpa Henry and together they must ensure that they (and all the other passengers) arrive safely.

Finally there is Ariel, a child who lives in Snoring-On-Sea, quite possibly the most boring holiday destination in the world.  Max, Lily and Jack go every year with their parents and dread it, however, when they explore a tiny island out in the sea they meet Ariel.  Ariel claims to never have had a holiday and finds everything amazing, including the view of the brick wall out of the children’s bedroom window.

Readers will enjoy seeing the world through the different characters eyes, with each character having a unique and very different story the reader will enjoy the exploits.

This book is one that could be used in a class setting as a teacher read aloud but is more likely to be enjoyed as an independent read by children.

Themes: Children, Magic, Humour.

Mhairi Alcorn