My Funny Family on Holiday

Nine-year-old Mattie is a worrier. A ‘Wendy Worry-worm, Franny Fret-a-while, Brenda Brood-a-bit’… so when her funny family pack themselves off on a two week camping holiday to Cornwall, Mattie finds a whole new world of things to worry about. There is train trauma and doggy drama all before they even get to Cornwall, the ‘bunion’ on the ‘big toe’ of England. The fact that they are holidaying on what is effectively the edge of the country is a pretty scary idea for Mattie, but her fears are soon forgotten when she discovers that camping on the beach with her family is absolutely great! Ted, the farmer is on hand to teach her all about the area, and frighten her with local legends but when Mattie makes friends with the mysterious boy on the beach she learns that not all scary stories are worth worrying about.

This is the second book in Higgins’ My Funny Family series and it is both sweet and surprising. Mattie’s voice is fresh and funny. The short chapters and simple sentences are interspersed with some more challenging words, making this a perfect book for confident younger readers. Mattie is a sensitive heroine and her jumbled family are immediately appealing but a strange turn of events and unusual ending gives this little book a bit more than meets the eye, and could raise some confusing questions for readers expecting the straightforward story suggested on the cover. The illustrations are lovely and it is easy to imagine this book being a turning point for independent readers, who are ready to have some independent thoughts.