The main character of this book is nine year old Barry Bennett, a boy with a love of James Bond and football who is jealous of his twin sisters, who are favoured by his parents and he finds them exceedingly annoying. Barry is unhappy with his parents and, as suggested by the title, he finds himself in a world where you can pick your parents. From this point the book is peopled with prospective Mums and Dads, with silly names and eccentric ways, to appeal directly to the young reader. Barry is sure that this will be his perfect solution, but is it? It becomes apparent that if you do not choose your parents by the time you are 10 and his tenth birthday is looming, something will happen. Will Barry pick in time?
I quite enjoyed the book despite some obvious outcomes from a plot with one theme and character cliches, as there were many laughs. Barry is not the most likeable of boys so if you do not care about a character you might not care to read on through a book which is really quite long, over 300 pages. Some of the jokes were a little flat, I could not help feel that if the outcome had been less predictable, that it would have been a much more suspenseful and ultimately a more enjoyable read.
There is the usual goo, snot, silliness and crazy situations, but you can't help feeling that you have read this sort of thing loads of times before. The message is a good one as we have all felt bad about thinking bad thoughts and getting the hump with our parents but I really was hoping for more. Although it does have some entertaining laugh out loud moments, I would not give this book more than 3 and a half stars.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
Want to tell the world about a book you've read? Join the site and send us your review!
