Anh Do (text), Jules Faber (illus.), Mega Weird (WeirDo #7), Scholastic Australia, 7 Sept 2016, 160pp., $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760159092
This latest laugh-out-loud book by Anh Do involves us in the Street Garage Sale and Weir’s desire to make Mega-bucks. But life is never straight forward for Weir, or his family and friends. The Garage Sale disappointingly doesn’t make enough money to bring Grandma Do over to Australia from Vietnam. Weir’s best friend Bella, whose entire garage contents have been stolen, is also on a quest to make money – to buy her mother a new sewing machine. Together they decide to enter the school writing competition which has prize money for the winning entry. Weir and Bella work together to come up with suitable entries supporting each other as only true friends can. Weir puts together a wondrous collection of dinosaur jokes while Bella writes an hilarious song about Animal Poo.
I am a great fan of Anh Do’s books. They are about life; not the polished perfected version but the actual ups and downs of the everyday with its embarrassments, unexpected situations, disappointments and triumphs – large and small – amidst a rich array of well-intentioned and rather quirky people. It’s a roller coaster of fun and laugh out loud moments, once again delightfully illustrated by Jules Faber’s zany drawings.
When I reviewed Crazy Weird (WeirDo #6) a whole world opened-up in our family’s reading. Since then, we have read – and re-read – all the books in this highly successful series and loved every one of them. These are great books to read to children and great books for children to read independently. Most recently, I have been using the Anh Do books as alternative texts for a small group of Year 3 children that I help with reading. It’s lovely to see them laugh and giggle as they discover that reading really can be fun.
This is a book for all ages – even Grannies will love the humour and the craziness of the unfortunately named, Weir Do. We must now wait to see if there will be a book no.8. I certainly hope so.
Reviewed by Jennifer Mors
