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mermaird's review
4.0
This book has been on my shelf for years already, but I only picked it up to be read today thanks to my little sister randomly choosing it as my next read. I absolutely have no memories as to why I bought this book, but I liked the neon bright yellow of its cover, so I dived in without much comments.
The book is about Charlie Han (who I suspected to be half-Chinese, but I can't really know because race isn't really an issue in this story, which is good in a way), who is rather lacking in his height, which caused him to constantly become the target of bullies in his school and neighbourhood. It didn't help that he is awkward and clumsy almost all the time, and only has a single "friend", Sinus—who happens to be an oucast as well. I had expected The Bubble Wrap Boy to be about how Charlie overcame these hurdles, and it is what I expected, but it turns out to be so much more as well.
The Bubble Wrap Boy is a story about a small boy with a big dream, and also about family love and finding the true meaning of friendship. I didn't like Charlie at first; the first chapter made him sound like someone that has a bitter outlook on his entire life. But Charlie himself said that he might sound bitter, but he wasn't, and the next chapters proved him right. It was easy to warm up to his character. Despite having an overprotective mother, a father that didn't offer much help to him when he pleaded for it, and a friend that sort of insulted every single part of his life, Charlie did not turn out to be a bad kid. All he wanted was to be able to do something that he loves and be good at it, without the overbearing observation of his mother.
When he finds out about skateboarding, he embraced it in no time. It caused more trouble than he needed: his mother was furious and doubled the overprotection, he drifted apart from Sinus, and he became the main subject of bully, earning the title Bubble Wrap Boy then. The way everyone bullied him made my heart broke for Charlie; he is just a boy who wanted to feel like he belonged, but everyone just turned him into a joke.
But that was the turning point for Charlie. When he finally learned the truth for the reason why his mother was too overprotective, Charlie started making plans to proof to her that he can do the things that he love without killing himself. His friendship with Sinus became stronger—it took me longer to warm up to Sinus' character because he was always sarcastic and I did not like that, but his loyalty to Charlie is strong and it was endearing to find out the things that he did for his friend. His plans did not run smoothly of course, but with his father's support and Sinus' constant encouragement, Charlie was finally able to proof himself to his mother.
I love the bond that strengthened between Charlie and Sinus, and I love that no matter how angry Charlie was at his parents' lies, he was not rude to them and tried his best to not to hurt any of them. I love how much Charlie loves to skate, and how much love he was able to pour to a family member that he just found out about. The Bubble Wrap Boy definitely highlights about the warmth of family love, the true meaning of friendship and the courage you need for the things and people that you love.
I'm actually glad I picked up this book to read!
P.S: The only problem that I had with this book might be why Charlie had to be a Chinese character though. The author is not Chinese himself, and there was not any Chinese culture included in the story, except for the fact that Charlie's family owns a Chinese food restaurant. Just something that I find a little bit iffy.
The book is about Charlie Han (who I suspected to be half-Chinese, but I can't really know because race isn't really an issue in this story, which is good in a way), who is rather lacking in his height, which caused him to constantly become the target of bullies in his school and neighbourhood. It didn't help that he is awkward and clumsy almost all the time, and only has a single "friend", Sinus—who happens to be an oucast as well. I had expected The Bubble Wrap Boy to be about how Charlie overcame these hurdles, and it is what I expected, but it turns out to be so much more as well.
The Bubble Wrap Boy is a story about a small boy with a big dream, and also about family love and finding the true meaning of friendship. I didn't like Charlie at first; the first chapter made him sound like someone that has a bitter outlook on his entire life. But Charlie himself said that he might sound bitter, but he wasn't, and the next chapters proved him right. It was easy to warm up to his character. Despite having an overprotective mother, a father that didn't offer much help to him when he pleaded for it, and a friend that sort of insulted every single part of his life, Charlie did not turn out to be a bad kid. All he wanted was to be able to do something that he loves and be good at it, without the overbearing observation of his mother.
When he finds out about skateboarding, he embraced it in no time. It caused more trouble than he needed: his mother was furious and doubled the overprotection, he drifted apart from Sinus, and he became the main subject of bully, earning the title Bubble Wrap Boy then. The way everyone bullied him made my heart broke for Charlie; he is just a boy who wanted to feel like he belonged, but everyone just turned him into a joke.
But that was the turning point for Charlie. When he finally learned the truth for the reason why his mother was too overprotective, Charlie started making plans to proof to her that he can do the things that he love without killing himself. His friendship with Sinus became stronger—it took me longer to warm up to Sinus' character because he was always sarcastic and I did not like that, but his loyalty to Charlie is strong and it was endearing to find out the things that he did for his friend. His plans did not run smoothly of course, but with his father's support and Sinus' constant encouragement, Charlie was finally able to proof himself to his mother.
I love the bond that strengthened between Charlie and Sinus, and I love that no matter how angry Charlie was at his parents' lies, he was not rude to them and tried his best to not to hurt any of them. I love how much Charlie loves to skate, and how much love he was able to pour to a family member that he just found out about. The Bubble Wrap Boy definitely highlights about the warmth of family love, the true meaning of friendship and the courage you need for the things and people that you love.
I'm actually glad I picked up this book to read!
P.S: The only problem that I had with this book might be why Charlie had to be a Chinese character though. The author is not Chinese himself, and there was not any Chinese culture included in the story, except for the fact that Charlie's family owns a Chinese food restaurant. Just something that I find a little bit iffy.
dancearh's review
4.0
Great story about learning how to discover what you truly love and going after it. However, the beginning was really slow to get into.
greenvillemelissa's review
4.0
Book #119 Read in 2015
The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle
Charlie is known at school at the little, clumsy kid. His mother is very overprotective and won't let him do anything. Needless to say, Charlie's newfound love of skateboarding would not meet Mom approval so he hides it from her. He soon learns that his mother has been hiding one heck of a secret from him. Will the discovery of secrets bring this family closer together or tear them apart? This is an excellent book for middle schoolers. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle
Charlie is known at school at the little, clumsy kid. His mother is very overprotective and won't let him do anything. Needless to say, Charlie's newfound love of skateboarding would not meet Mom approval so he hides it from her. He soon learns that his mother has been hiding one heck of a secret from him. Will the discovery of secrets bring this family closer together or tear them apart? This is an excellent book for middle schoolers. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
melissapalmer404's review against another edition
4.0
Book #119 Read in 2015
The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle
Charlie is known at school at the little, clumsy kid. His mother is very overprotective and won't let him do anything. Needless to say, Charlie's newfound love of skateboarding would not meet Mom approval so he hides it from her. He soon learns that his mother has been hiding one heck of a secret from him. Will the discovery of secrets bring this family closer together or tear them apart? This is an excellent book for middle schoolers. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle
Charlie is known at school at the little, clumsy kid. His mother is very overprotective and won't let him do anything. Needless to say, Charlie's newfound love of skateboarding would not meet Mom approval so he hides it from her. He soon learns that his mother has been hiding one heck of a secret from him. Will the discovery of secrets bring this family closer together or tear them apart? This is an excellent book for middle schoolers. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
thebookishlibrarian's review
Told from the point of view of Charlie Han, The Bubble Wrap Boy is a story of friendship and family. Charlie has always felt like an outsider who is a little bit geeky and doesn’t have many friends. Then Charlie discovers skateboarding and his whole world changes. He finally feels like he fits in somewhere. Kids will identify with Charlie as someone who has found his passion.
thebookguru's review
3.0
you can read my full review here: http://www.spinebreakers.co.uk/sp_reviews/bwb/
this is my first phil earle book and i really enjoyed it. like i didn't know what to expect but yeah.
first of all it's set in the UK so yay. secondly, the main character s British Chinese so yay a POC character!
this book is about friendship, discovering who you are and what you're capable of, family and bullying. although there were lots of themes but not much was resolved like the bullying was horrible yet not dealt with. the family secret was BIG and CRAZY.
i felt like this book needed more description like for the skateboarding tricks and for the graffiti.
it is a very short book but a good book.
oh yeah so basically this boy is seen as a loser and wants to change that and feels like if he had a talent that could change his life so he discovers skateboarding and he practices and then things happen and he has this crazy overprotective mum (chinese mothers do tend to be overprotective) and yeah.
so Happy Reading!
=D
p.s i liked this book so i do actually want to read Phil Earle's other books. =)
this is my first phil earle book and i really enjoyed it. like i didn't know what to expect but yeah.
first of all it's set in the UK so yay. secondly, the main character s British Chinese so yay a POC character!
this book is about friendship, discovering who you are and what you're capable of, family and bullying. although there were lots of themes but not much was resolved like the bullying was horrible yet not dealt with. the family secret was BIG and CRAZY.
i felt like this book needed more description like for the skateboarding tricks and for the graffiti.
it is a very short book but a good book.
oh yeah so basically this boy is seen as a loser and wants to change that and feels like if he had a talent that could change his life so he discovers skateboarding and he practices and then things happen and he has this crazy overprotective mum (chinese mothers do tend to be overprotective) and yeah.
so Happy Reading!
=D
p.s i liked this book so i do actually want to read Phil Earle's other books. =)
eviebyrne1909's review
4.0
I didn't expect this book to be so sad!! I loved it, read it in 1 day, and if you like very character-driven books, you will enjoy this book!