Moone Boy: The Blunder Years
by Chris O’Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy, illustrated by Walter Giampaglia
Interest age: 7+
Reading age: 8+
Published by Pan Macmillan, 2015
About this book
Outnumbered at home by his family of girls and bullied at school, Martin Moone is in need of a friend, fast. An imaginary friend sounds like the perfect solution for some instant moral support but Martin’s imagination isn’t very good so when he hears about the catalogue of ‘IFs’ just waiting to be matched up with their ‘realsies’ he’s raring to go.
Loopy Lou isn’t exactly what he had in mind, he’s over-excitable, won’t stop rhyming and calls Martin Moo-Moo - he has to go back. But clerical errors regarding IFs have to fixed by the appropriate clerk - and when Customer Service Representative 263749 arrives to sort out the paperwork, Martin finally finds the friend his imagination couldn’t. Loopy Lou is still causing trouble and those bullies won’t quit, can CustServRep263 really help with Martin’s problem?
Genuinely bizarre and ridiculously funny, this is one of the maddest books of the year. The concoction of authors (and non-imaginary) friends Chris and Nick, creators of the Emmy-winning TV programme of the same name, Moone Boy is probably about friendship and family but is far too much fun to be truly sentimental.
Packed with daft-jokes and non-stop banter, Martin’s Moone’s life is a mad hatter’s tea party, with terrible cereal instead of tea. There’s a grown-up edge to the humour that will really connect with boys on the verge of their teenage years - don’t be fooled by the diary style layout. Loud, crazy and unapologetically Irish with brilliant sketches and a stylish production to boot - great craic!
About the author
About the author
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Lists of recommended reads
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St Patrick’s Day books for older children (9+)
Why not ring in St Patrick's Day this year by adding these books to your reading list? Our St Patrick's Day booklist featuring titles about or set in the Emerald Isle features a range of books - from tales of time travel, magic, witches, natural disasters and mythical worlds to both funny and hard-hitting books about contemporary Ireland and short stories too. We've picked out these titles for slightly older readers which could make you see Ireland in a whole new light... so which one will you be sampling first on 17 March?