Kid Swap (Jiggy McCue) by Michael Lawrence
| Kid Swap (Jiggy McCue) by Michael Lawrence | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: The tenth Jiggy McCue book hasn't lost any of the series' freshness. It's still light, easy, funny slapstick humour with a deal of contemporary satire thrown in. Great comic timing and as suitable for keen nine year-olds as it is for reluctant fourteen year-olds. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 240 | Date: July 2008 |
| Publisher: Orchard | |
| ISBN: 140830273X | |
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Jiggy is horrified to learn that his parents have traded him in. With Dad out of work and Mum about to head off on maternity leave, the McCues are rather short of cash. So they've signed up for a reality TV show called Kid Swap. Jiggy's mother calculates that the fee will tide them nicely over this tricky financial spot. Jiggy is not impressed. He's cynical about such TV shows and with his undeniable talent for cock up, he fears he'll be set up and the camera will not love him. But his parents won't listen, and with a heavy heart, he heads off to the Nexts, while Toby Next gets comfy at the McCue residence.
The Nexts are very rich, very nice, and Sans-Earthist - they don't eat anything that comes from the ground. But they do eat sweets and drink fizzy drinks - as much and as often as even Jiggy could want. You'd think things were looking up for our intrepid hero, but unfortunately, Jiggy was right in the first place. The TV people have a knack for catching him at his most unfortunate, and his fifteen minutes of fame go from bad to worse and to even worse still...
This tenth Jiggy McCue book hasn't lost any of the freshness that characterises the series. It's still light, easy, funny slapstick humour with some contemporary satire thrown in for good measure. You can't help but love them. Jaded adult that I am, even I laughed aloud as I read. Jiggy's transformation from vegetable-phobic to broccoli-wannabe under the Sans-Earthist regime at the Nexts is utterly hilarious. It's wondrous, what a crop of spots can do to a teenager. And thankfully, eventually, Jiggy's family have the last laugh on the nasty and manipulative TV people. As ever, Lawrence captures the zeitgeist with some timely satire - this time reality TV and all its unreality, conniving, and manipulative editing. There's some sharp comment here, but it's always tempered by irony and humour.
The wonderful comic timing and contemporary subjects they cover make the Jiggy McCue books as suitable for keen nine-year-olds as they are for reluctant fourteen-year-olds. They appeal equally to boys and girls and I can't recommend them highly enough.
My thanks to the nice people at Orchard for sending the book. We also have a review of Murder and Chips (Jiggy McCue) by Michael Lawrence.
Jiggy McCue's younger readers might also like How To Write Really Badly by Anne Fine or Stinky Finger's Peace and Love Thing by Jon Blake, while older readers might be ready for Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Kid Swap (Jiggy McCue) by Michael Lawrence at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Kid Swap (Jiggy McCue) by Michael Lawrence at Amazon.com.
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