Puppy Fat

Readers who've followed the mixed fortunes of amateur painter and would be heart-healer, Keith Shipley, will be happy to have this update on his fractured family's latest tribulations. Keith is desperate to haul his parents from the slough of post matrimonial despond, and in order to do so he enlists the help of Auntie Bev, a beautician who is accompanying Keith's old mate Tracy on a visit from Australia. Keith is impressed with the zeal and efficacy of Bev's campaign, but it takes him a while to realise that her devotion to glam-fascism is at least as destructive to happiness as his parents' erstwhile lethargy. Morris Gleitzman accomplishes a nimble balance between outlandish wit, a helter-skelter plot and a concern for moral issues that's never compromised by the farcical narrative. Highly recommended for fluent readers and for reading aloud, preferably as part of the trilogy which began with Misery Guts and continued with Worry Warts.