What do you think?
Rate this book
No Place Like
'This is a peace house,' reads the notice on the Williamses front door. But as Sara says, 'Who needs nukes? We got Dad.'Dad certainly is noisy, a genial but dangerous thunderstorm. Ma, though less alarming, is voluble in the extreme, living in a world of good causes and positive thinking. Sara - beautiful, clever and efficient - is everyone's ideal girl. And Pete takes refuge in his bedroom, with his elderly pets, ancient magazines and cassette player, and just tries to shut it all out.The day his O-Level results arrive he has more reason than usual to retreat from life. And yet - partly because of the forgotten toast under the lighted grill - that's the very day that Pete begins to emerge into the new world of sixth form college, astounded to find himself the centre of a group that includes gorgeous Verna, confident Nick, crazy Claire and, unfortunately, Oliver and his henchman Kenny.No Place Like is Gene Kemp's first novel for teenagers, but displays that unique combination of riotous comedy, human sympathy and natural realism that has made books such as The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler so beloved by young readers.
128 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 6, 1981
8 people want to read
About the author
Gene Kemp
52 books11 followersGene Kemp was an English author known for children's books. Her first, The Pride of Tamworth Pig, appeared in 1972. She won the British Carnegie Medal for her school novel The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (1977).
Gene Kemp was born in Wigginton, Staffordshire in 1926. She grew up near Tamworth, Staffordshire, and went to Exeter University. She became a teacher and taught at St Sidwell's School in Exeter in the 1970s.
From 1972 she wrote stories for young readers about a pig named Tamworth, named after the town she grew up in. Kemp found inspiration for many of the characters in her books amongst the friends of her children, Chantal and Richard.
Her best known book is The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, published by Faber's Children's Books in 1977. Set in the fictional Cricklepit School, it charts the pleasures and pains of friendship and growing up. There are several Cricklepit books, including Snaggletooth's Mystery, an alternative history of the school, and Gowie Corby Plays Chicken, set one year after The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler and referencing Tyke in several chapters.
Kemp wrote ghost stories and fantasy as well as realistic fiction, like Seriously Weird, which is told from the perspective of the sister of a young man with Asperger syndrome. She also dramatised some of her work, the most successful and well-known of these being Charlie Lewis Plays for Time, another Cricklepit story.
Gene Kemp was awarded an Honorary MA from Exeter University in 1984. She lived in Exeter and had three children – a daughter, Judith, from her first marriage to Norman Pattison, which ended in divorce, and another daughter, Chantal, and a son, Richard, from her second marriage, to Allan Kemp, who died in 1990. She had three grandchildren and two great-grandsons. Kemp died at the age of 88 on 4 January 2015.
Kemp won two awards for The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (1997): the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, for the year's best children's book by a British subject, and one from the Children's Rights Workshop.
She made the Smarties Prize shortlist four times, in (1981) for The Clock Tower Ghost, (1985) for Charlie Lewis Plays for Time, (1986) for Juniper and (1990) for Just Ferret.
Gene Kemp was born in Wigginton, Staffordshire in 1926. She grew up near Tamworth, Staffordshire, and went to Exeter University. She became a teacher and taught at St Sidwell's School in Exeter in the 1970s.
From 1972 she wrote stories for young readers about a pig named Tamworth, named after the town she grew up in. Kemp found inspiration for many of the characters in her books amongst the friends of her children, Chantal and Richard.
Her best known book is The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, published by Faber's Children's Books in 1977. Set in the fictional Cricklepit School, it charts the pleasures and pains of friendship and growing up. There are several Cricklepit books, including Snaggletooth's Mystery, an alternative history of the school, and Gowie Corby Plays Chicken, set one year after The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler and referencing Tyke in several chapters.
Kemp wrote ghost stories and fantasy as well as realistic fiction, like Seriously Weird, which is told from the perspective of the sister of a young man with Asperger syndrome. She also dramatised some of her work, the most successful and well-known of these being Charlie Lewis Plays for Time, another Cricklepit story.
Gene Kemp was awarded an Honorary MA from Exeter University in 1984. She lived in Exeter and had three children – a daughter, Judith, from her first marriage to Norman Pattison, which ended in divorce, and another daughter, Chantal, and a son, Richard, from her second marriage, to Allan Kemp, who died in 1990. She had three grandchildren and two great-grandsons. Kemp died at the age of 88 on 4 January 2015.
Kemp won two awards for The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (1997): the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, for the year's best children's book by a British subject, and one from the Children's Rights Workshop.
She made the Smarties Prize shortlist four times, in (1981) for The Clock Tower Ghost, (1985) for Charlie Lewis Plays for Time, (1986) for Juniper and (1990) for Just Ferret.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 28, 2017
Pete is no more than flotsam bobbing aimlessly on the waves, when he fails his 'O' levels/GCSEs and heads off to the local community college. Because that's what kids in his situation do, and he doesn't have any better ideas. He's letting life happen to him. But gradually he begins to get his bearings, identify positive influences and helpful people, make a few friends, get a few ideas about things he might actually like and want to do.
It takes longer for him to spot the malign influences, the folks to avoid. Still longer to understand that not all wrong 'uns can be harmlessly evaded, and confrontation isn't always optional.
It's a pivotal point in adolescent life, but Pete takes those first steps, gets a grip on who he might be or become. All without lasting hurt or mortal wound. But for a light, sweet YA novel, it's amazing how clear it is that that's partially his own efforts, and partially the merest luck and chance.
This is really beautifully written, simple and clear, economical, precise and extremely funny. The character of Pete's dad is especially immortal and hilarious, and there are moments of his character's contributions to the tale that are as funny as anything in Wodehouse.
It takes longer for him to spot the malign influences, the folks to avoid. Still longer to understand that not all wrong 'uns can be harmlessly evaded, and confrontation isn't always optional.
It's a pivotal point in adolescent life, but Pete takes those first steps, gets a grip on who he might be or become. All without lasting hurt or mortal wound. But for a light, sweet YA novel, it's amazing how clear it is that that's partially his own efforts, and partially the merest luck and chance.
This is really beautifully written, simple and clear, economical, precise and extremely funny. The character of Pete's dad is especially immortal and hilarious, and there are moments of his character's contributions to the tale that are as funny as anything in Wodehouse.
Displaying 1 of 1 review