Sunday, May 27, 2012

Book 59 - Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce - England

This is a Barrington Stoke book - in other words - high interest but low vocabulary for reluctant readers or ESOL students. I am a huge fan of Frank Cottrell Boyce's other books - Millions, Framed and Cosmic so when I saw this was available through Barrington Stoke I knew it would be great.

George, the main character, is unpopular. Well that is an understatement - even his own grandfather doesn't want to spend time with him on his birthday. He does, however, give George a gift - some after shave called "Desirable" that he was given years ago - way past its 'best by' date. George decides to try the potion any way and suddenly everything changes. The girls all want to sit with him, the boys all become jealous of him and everyone wants to join the warhammer club just to be with him. Two people seem to be immune to this new wave of popularity - George's best friend, Tiny and the girl George has a crush on, Daniella.

This is a very funny read. George is a wonderful anti hero. I love when he is trying to replace the after shave and his says "I searched the internet. Desirable is not a good word to google." Some real laugh out loud moments and a happy ending too. 

Here is the promo material from Stoke books