Love from Greg

Love from Greg consists of a series of letters from Greg, a sixteen-year-old Australian 'surfie', to his sister's friend Emily, whom he has never met. Emily spends the large part of her letters criticising his tattoos, earrings, grammar and sick jokes (which, incidentally, are atrocious). Despite this, he - after one brief meeting -- considers her to be his girlfriend and devotes his time and energy to shaping himself into someone worthy of her; until of course, someone much more his type comes on the scene. The book is tedious (the blurb says 'hilarious' but I didn't smile once). Neither the sanctimonious Emily nor the naive Greg elicits a twinge of belief from the reader. 91' pages - many of them almost blank - do not represent value for money at £1.75. If your pupils enjoy letter format books, give them Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr Henshaw - one of the best.