My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish by Mo O’Hara
Mar. 6th, 2013 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
This fish just got nasty!
When Tom’s big brother dunks Frankie the goldfish into toxic green gunk, Tom zaps the fish with a battery to bring him back to life! But there’s something weird about the new Frankie – he’s now a BIG FAT ZOMBIE GOLDFISH with hypnotic powers … and he’s out for revenge.
Two big fat fishy stories that will keep you hooked and make you laugh out loud!
Tom’s always known that his big brother Mark is evil, but when Mark gets a chemistry set for his birthday, he decides that he wants to be an evil scientist. For Mark’s first experiment, he creates a disgusting toxic mix and dunks a goldfish in it. Horrified by what his brother’s doing, Tom zaps the goldfish with a battery to save its life but now the goldfish – called Frankie – is a zombie goldfish with hypnotic powers and he wants revenge against Mark for what he did. Only Tom and his best friend Pradeep can save the day …
Mo O’Hara’s debut book (the first in a trilogy) is a funny, fast-paced read that has strong themes of friendship and loyalty and which has wonderful illustrations that will appeal to anyone aged 7+.
The book is actually split into two stories – the first an origin (or should that be ‘orifin’?) story explaining how Frankie came into being and the second a story about what happens when Tom brings Frankie to school.
Central to the story is Tom and Pradeep’s friendship. I loved the rapport that the two boys have and their shared misery at each having older brothers who pick on them, which offers a rich comic seam that O’Hara mines perfectly and will be familiar to younger siblings everywhere. I also liked the way that each boy tries to stand up to their brothers in their own way.
The star of the book though is Frankie the eponymous zombie goldfish. I wondered how O’Hara was going to pull him off because the obvious problems with having a fish anti-hero is that they need to be in water all the time. O’Hara deals with it ingeniously, her solution involving a plastic bag of water that I won’t spoil but which made me fall about laughing. His hatred of Mark is well depicted as his growing friendship with Tom.
Mention should be made of the illustrations by Mareck Jagucki, which are absolutely pitch perfect – especially the little flip pictures in the bottom right hand corner, which I could have played with for hours.
All in all I think this book is a lot of fun from start to finish and I heartily recommend it to anyone aged 7+.
The Verdict:
Mo O’Hara’s debut book (the first in a trilogy) is a funny, fast-paced read that has strong themes of friendship and loyalty and which has wonderful illustrations that will appeal to anyone aged 7+. It’s actually split into two stories – the first an origin story explaining how Frankie came into being and the second a story about what happens when Tom brings Frankie to school. Each is a lot of fun and coupled with Mareck Jagucki’s pitch perfect illustrations, I heartily recommend it to anyone aged 7+.
When Tom’s big brother dunks Frankie the goldfish into toxic green gunk, Tom zaps the fish with a battery to bring him back to life! But there’s something weird about the new Frankie – he’s now a BIG FAT ZOMBIE GOLDFISH with hypnotic powers … and he’s out for revenge.
Tom’s always known that his big brother Mark is evil, but when Mark gets a chemistry set for his birthday, he decides that he wants to be an evil scientist. For Mark’s first experiment, he creates a disgusting toxic mix and dunks a goldfish in it. Horrified by what his brother’s doing, Tom zaps the goldfish with a battery to save its life but now the goldfish – called Frankie – is a zombie goldfish with hypnotic powers and he wants revenge against Mark for what he did. Only Tom and his best friend Pradeep can save the day …
Mo O’Hara’s debut book (the first in a trilogy) is a funny, fast-paced read that has strong themes of friendship and loyalty and which has wonderful illustrations that will appeal to anyone aged 7+.
The book is actually split into two stories – the first an origin (or should that be ‘orifin’?) story explaining how Frankie came into being and the second a story about what happens when Tom brings Frankie to school.
Central to the story is Tom and Pradeep’s friendship. I loved the rapport that the two boys have and their shared misery at each having older brothers who pick on them, which offers a rich comic seam that O’Hara mines perfectly and will be familiar to younger siblings everywhere. I also liked the way that each boy tries to stand up to their brothers in their own way.
The star of the book though is Frankie the eponymous zombie goldfish. I wondered how O’Hara was going to pull him off because the obvious problems with having a fish anti-hero is that they need to be in water all the time. O’Hara deals with it ingeniously, her solution involving a plastic bag of water that I won’t spoil but which made me fall about laughing. His hatred of Mark is well depicted as his growing friendship with Tom.
Mention should be made of the illustrations by Mareck Jagucki, which are absolutely pitch perfect – especially the little flip pictures in the bottom right hand corner, which I could have played with for hours.
All in all I think this book is a lot of fun from start to finish and I heartily recommend it to anyone aged 7+.
The Verdict:
Mo O’Hara’s debut book (the first in a trilogy) is a funny, fast-paced read that has strong themes of friendship and loyalty and which has wonderful illustrations that will appeal to anyone aged 7+. It’s actually split into two stories – the first an origin story explaining how Frankie came into being and the second a story about what happens when Tom brings Frankie to school. Each is a lot of fun and coupled with Mareck Jagucki’s pitch perfect illustrations, I heartily recommend it to anyone aged 7+.
