Chester Parsons is Not a Gorilla
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Discovering he can "mind jump" takes Chester Parsons by surprise but it’s not long before his sister Amy has recruited him to exploit his new-found skill so she can increase viewing figures for her YouTube channel.
Both Chester and Amy enjoy being minor celebrities and life seems rosy until the day Chester jumps into the mind of Tito, a silverback gorilla, and someone steals his human body leaving him stuck in Tito’s brain.
What begins as a humorous, almost frivolous, story of internet vlogging and reality TV evolves in complexity as the narrative progresses, and ends with a dramatic inferno of a conclusion.
Chester’s experiences provide a thought-provoking exposé of the fakery of some social media platforms, seamlessly interwoven with slapstick humour and a brilliantly antagonistic sibling relationship.
Recommended for confident middle-grade readers looking for a more challenging plot.
