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A review by katykelly
Seed by Caryl Lewis
5.0
Heart-warming family story about wishing, family and following your dreams.
It gets you 'right in the feels' from the start. Marty and his mum don't have much money, his uniform is second-hand, his quilt cover is an old Mickey Mouse one.. but worse than all that is the fact that his mum is a hoarder. Their house is full of 'stuff' that she won't throw away. He's drowning in it.
So much so that his granddad won't even come round anymore. A bit of an eccentric inventor, Marty visits his granddad at his allotment for air and space. It's when Granddad is only able to give Marty a seed for his birthday that things start to happen though...
It's not Jack and the Beanstalk. It's not James and the Giant Peach. But it is fantastical and rather lovely.
Not only does the book give us a focus on mental health issues, but Marty also meets a girl with a cochlear implant who keeps people at bay with her sharp wit and sarcasm, but just might be hiding a soft core of her own.
There are some lovely characters here, from a Granddad who refuses to accept reality and ordinary life as it is, to a school guidance counsellor with some slightly wacky ways of advising his students. Marty has bullies to overcome, Gracie has ambitions to fulfil - it's a rather full novel for KS2/KS3 readers.
And the denouement and climax of the story almost feels rushed, as there's so much that comes before it. It had me smiling, and I think this would make a lovely mini-series for children's television.
There are some great relationships here, and some good storylines for PSHE discussions.
Marty is definitely a contemporary protagonist that many will identify with, and it's lovely to have the wish-fulfilment/dreams idea used so well without moving outside the broad boundaries of real-world possibilities.
A great read. For ages 9-13.
It gets you 'right in the feels' from the start. Marty and his mum don't have much money, his uniform is second-hand, his quilt cover is an old Mickey Mouse one.. but worse than all that is the fact that his mum is a hoarder. Their house is full of 'stuff' that she won't throw away. He's drowning in it.
So much so that his granddad won't even come round anymore. A bit of an eccentric inventor, Marty visits his granddad at his allotment for air and space. It's when Granddad is only able to give Marty a seed for his birthday that things start to happen though...
It's not Jack and the Beanstalk. It's not James and the Giant Peach. But it is fantastical and rather lovely.
Not only does the book give us a focus on mental health issues, but Marty also meets a girl with a cochlear implant who keeps people at bay with her sharp wit and sarcasm, but just might be hiding a soft core of her own.
There are some lovely characters here, from a Granddad who refuses to accept reality and ordinary life as it is, to a school guidance counsellor with some slightly wacky ways of advising his students. Marty has bullies to overcome, Gracie has ambitions to fulfil - it's a rather full novel for KS2/KS3 readers.
And the denouement and climax of the story almost feels rushed, as there's so much that comes before it. It had me smiling, and I think this would make a lovely mini-series for children's television.
There are some great relationships here, and some good storylines for PSHE discussions.
Marty is definitely a contemporary protagonist that many will identify with, and it's lovely to have the wish-fulfilment/dreams idea used so well without moving outside the broad boundaries of real-world possibilities.
A great read. For ages 9-13.