MIDDLE

McGowan, Anthony (2011). The Donut Diaries: of Dermot Milligan. Great Brittan: Corgi Books.

This book is more than a donut diary, it is a recollection of this young mans life as he grows up.  From going to big school, making new friends and the challenges of foot in mouth responses he has a tendancy to create.  Boys can relate to Dermot's uncomfortable age and dysfunctional funny family.  A stage most prepubescent children go though when discovering who they are and what they value. It's a funny book with disgusting bits to bring big smiles to boys aged 9-12.  Ever since the popularity of Jeff Kinney's The Wimpy Kid series, parents and children have been looking for books that are similar in the angst of the early high school years.  This book is a great read, it has the threat of Camp Fatso, the dysfuntional family unit, the bully and the hilarity of awkward moments.  Here is an excerpt from the book:

Sunday 17 September
I was burning my childhood.  It was an authentic Rite of Passage, like when Maori boys get their first tattoo, or Eskimos snog their first walrus.  I felt my eyes begin to water.  At first I thought it was because of all the emotion.  It's not everyday you say goodbuye to your childhood.  Then I realized it was because of all the black oily smoke coming off othe burning plastic.  We moved back.  It was quite impressive.  There weren't any decent flames, but there was a red glow from underneath the tangled pile of old toys, and so much smoke you'd have thought a battleship had been torpedoed and dive-bombed to destruction.  It was aobut then that I head the first faint siren.  And by siren, I don't mean a beautiful sea maiden trying to lure me onto the rocks - I mean the electornic wail of a police car.  Or, as it turned out, fire engine. 'What the hell's going on?'  That was my dad, leaning out ot the upstairs toilet window.

I would highly recommend this book to any child that has enjoyed the Jeff Kinney series, or enjoys diary formatted books with a sense of awkward humour.  Dermot Milligan has won me over, and not only because he likes his donuts!