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When you're pushed out of your room so that your cousin can sleep there, and when that cousin's a girl, and when there's nothing she can't do, it's small wonder that Figgy decides something has to be done about her. But there's even more to Lavinia than he and Basher's gang could have imagined.
122 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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January 7, 2019
Absolutely great.
I can't fathom why this book isn't a classic. Maybe it's too adult for children, or too childish for adults, or way deeper than it should. Maybe Michael is too much of a loser, and Lavinia too much of a winner. Maybe the cover seems sexist (Lavinia is NOTHING like what you see in that cover).
This book has been a constant read of mine during the years. When I was little, as a girl bullied by an older family member, and yearning to belong, I felt somewhat identified with the protagonist, Michael, and with his constant frustration at life being unfair, and his inability to make it any fairer. I idolized Lavinia, she was super cool and I wanted to be like her.
Yet, the more I read that book, during the years, the more I realized how much we all are like Michael. This book deals with serious topics which are known nowadays, such as the backfire effect in psychology, peer pressure, the need to belong, bullying, emotional management (or lackthereof, and its negative consequences), the fairness or unfairness of life, how we deal with envy, how we can sometimes blame the innocent for problems which are our fault... Michael/Figgy goes a long way to get in trouble, but the way he acts and feels is utterly human and believable.
The book deals with the frustration of childhood, with a dash of the idiocy of successful teenage, and the incredible Lavinia's confusing status between both. She's a woman in many aspects, a budding teenager in body and heart, yet a child under everything.
The only thing I dislike about this book is the lack of a second part. I really would have liked to see Figgy growing up, changing his way of thinking, after the events in the book. I'd love to see more of Lavinia. If such a book does not appear, I'll have to write it myself.
This would be a wonderful book to read with kids if only to discuss it with them. The way the protagonist thinks, how he makes mistakes that snowball, how his emotions blind him to truths that should be crystal clear, and how he creates an erronews view of reality... all that is worth reading, worth discussing, and wonderful fun at the same time.
I really, really recommend this book, and I'm just sad it's not a classic alongside Matilda by Dahl. It certainly should be.
I can't fathom why this book isn't a classic. Maybe it's too adult for children, or too childish for adults, or way deeper than it should. Maybe Michael is too much of a loser, and Lavinia too much of a winner. Maybe the cover seems sexist (Lavinia is NOTHING like what you see in that cover).
This book has been a constant read of mine during the years. When I was little, as a girl bullied by an older family member, and yearning to belong, I felt somewhat identified with the protagonist, Michael, and with his constant frustration at life being unfair, and his inability to make it any fairer. I idolized Lavinia, she was super cool and I wanted to be like her.
Yet, the more I read that book, during the years, the more I realized how much we all are like Michael. This book deals with serious topics which are known nowadays, such as the backfire effect in psychology, peer pressure, the need to belong, bullying, emotional management (or lackthereof, and its negative consequences), the fairness or unfairness of life, how we deal with envy, how we can sometimes blame the innocent for problems which are our fault... Michael/Figgy goes a long way to get in trouble, but the way he acts and feels is utterly human and believable.
The book deals with the frustration of childhood, with a dash of the idiocy of successful teenage, and the incredible Lavinia's confusing status between both. She's a woman in many aspects, a budding teenager in body and heart, yet a child under everything.
The only thing I dislike about this book is the lack of a second part. I really would have liked to see Figgy growing up, changing his way of thinking, after the events in the book. I'd love to see more of Lavinia. If such a book does not appear, I'll have to write it myself.
This would be a wonderful book to read with kids if only to discuss it with them. The way the protagonist thinks, how he makes mistakes that snowball, how his emotions blind him to truths that should be crystal clear, and how he creates an erronews view of reality... all that is worth reading, worth discussing, and wonderful fun at the same time.
I really, really recommend this book, and I'm just sad it's not a classic alongside Matilda by Dahl. It certainly should be.
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