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A review by katykelly
Demolition Dad by Phil Earle
5.0
Such fun. Glad I read this just before Fathers' Day as it would be a great read for a dad and his son.
I love Phil Earle, read a few others for older readers and this is an excellent read for a slightly younger (pre-teen) market. It's a portrait of a very loving father-son relationship and the lengths we go to for the ones we love. It's also hilarious with wonderful illustrations (it's not only Quentin Blake and Tony Ross who can put so much humour and warmth into their characters) and I love the narrator's way of talking to the reader, very naturally but with humour.
Jake admires his dad, he thinks he's the best. Not only is his day job cool - he demolishes buildings - but at the weekends, he's a secret wrestler, beating all local challengers with his son and greatest fan for a coach. Jake thinks he's got a good chance of winning a competition to face the best wrestler in America, so he and his friends film him secretly and enter him in the contest. But even if he wins, will this small fish cope in a bigger pond? Will fame and success be easy to reach? Will George Biggs, the Demolition Man still have his son's respect and love?
The story doesn't quite go where you expect at first, but I loved it for that. Earle doesn't go for the stereotypes either - ex-airline hostess Mum is clearly dying of boredom at home, Dad a frustrated builder eating himself into misery, Jake blind to their adult needs but very sweetly trying to fix his family. His friends are underused (though they get a little more attention at the end) and are a good pair actually, with techie abilities that complement Jake and don't grate.
And as well as a great ending (I'm not saying exactly what happens though!), I loved the portrait of family life after the events of the book, and how the adults' lives are also taken into account, not just the children's.
You can see that Phil Earle has written for older children before, in scenes depicting adults not coping well with where their lives have gone. He doesn't go for lowest-common-denominator tricks of toilet humour (though I like that well enough in its place), but makes you feel for the Biggs family as a viewer.
The narrator talks to you just enough to not feel like it's a trick, and does it well:
"And so, the big day arrived, which was just as well, because:
a) I love this bit of the story, it gets properly juicy
b) My laptop's about to run out of battery so I need to type quickly..."
Boys will love this, and I hope girls too, but it IS a story that contains a fair few scenes of wrestling. It's about a son and his father. And knocking buildings down. I hope it's for anyone around 7-10 who likes funny, family stories, and would be a lovely read to share with this age group at bedtime or for teachers at the end of a school day.
I love Phil Earle, read a few others for older readers and this is an excellent read for a slightly younger (pre-teen) market. It's a portrait of a very loving father-son relationship and the lengths we go to for the ones we love. It's also hilarious with wonderful illustrations (it's not only Quentin Blake and Tony Ross who can put so much humour and warmth into their characters) and I love the narrator's way of talking to the reader, very naturally but with humour.
Jake admires his dad, he thinks he's the best. Not only is his day job cool - he demolishes buildings - but at the weekends, he's a secret wrestler, beating all local challengers with his son and greatest fan for a coach. Jake thinks he's got a good chance of winning a competition to face the best wrestler in America, so he and his friends film him secretly and enter him in the contest. But even if he wins, will this small fish cope in a bigger pond? Will fame and success be easy to reach? Will George Biggs, the Demolition Man still have his son's respect and love?
The story doesn't quite go where you expect at first, but I loved it for that. Earle doesn't go for the stereotypes either - ex-airline hostess Mum is clearly dying of boredom at home, Dad a frustrated builder eating himself into misery, Jake blind to their adult needs but very sweetly trying to fix his family. His friends are underused (though they get a little more attention at the end) and are a good pair actually, with techie abilities that complement Jake and don't grate.
And as well as a great ending (I'm not saying exactly what happens though!), I loved the portrait of family life after the events of the book, and how the adults' lives are also taken into account, not just the children's.
You can see that Phil Earle has written for older children before, in scenes depicting adults not coping well with where their lives have gone. He doesn't go for lowest-common-denominator tricks of toilet humour (though I like that well enough in its place), but makes you feel for the Biggs family as a viewer.
The narrator talks to you just enough to not feel like it's a trick, and does it well:
"And so, the big day arrived, which was just as well, because:
a) I love this bit of the story, it gets properly juicy
b) My laptop's about to run out of battery so I need to type quickly..."
Boys will love this, and I hope girls too, but it IS a story that contains a fair few scenes of wrestling. It's about a son and his father. And knocking buildings down. I hope it's for anyone around 7-10 who likes funny, family stories, and would be a lovely read to share with this age group at bedtime or for teachers at the end of a school day.