Snotty Bumstead and the Rent-a-Mum

How would your average 12-year-old react to being left alone in a big city house while his mum went off on an open-ended expedition to Africa? Snotty's reaction is one of delight. He converts the house to an earthly paradise of football facilities and electronic paraphernalia, subsists entirely on junk food, and uses the bathroom solely as a storage bin for comics. It can't last, of course, and the bulk of the story is devoted to the efforts that Snotty and his pals apply to keeping at bay the attentions of the school and social services. An anti-authoritarian romp of a book, packed with farcical incidents, that may be gratefully greeted as wish fulfilment fodder by many an oppressed adolescent.