Snot Chocolate by Morris Gleitzman
Puffin Books, 2016. ISBN 9780143309222
The blurb reads, "Stop your mum picking her nose, read the secret
diary of a dog, catch a bus and then let it go, discover how one
slice of toast can make you the most popular person in school, start
wearing a crown and give up eating pig-nostril gruel, use a wrecking
ball to defeat a bully, show your big sister the very scary secret
in your wardrobe, unleash the awesome power of chips, live in a
house that gets wiped clean more often than a bottom."
But there is so much more to this collection of short stories from a
master storyteller who seamlessly switches between the poignancy of
Two weeks with the Queen, the gaiety of Toad Rage and
the seriousness and sincerity of the Once series. Gleitzman
himself says, "Nine stories, and I've made them different lengths
because different parents have different ideas about how long a
person should be allowed to read before turning the lights out."
With a title designed to attract that reader who loves to makes sure
parents and teachers have a stomach-churning moment when they see
it, nevertheless there are serious undertones to each as the central
character of each tries to grapple with a big problem affecting
family or friends using a thought process and logic that are
particular to that age group. Creativity is alive and well in
children - until the formality and seriousness of school try to
quell it.
Along with Give Peas a Chance and Pizza Cake, these
stories which give the author "a break from the stiff neck and stiff
brain you sometimes get writing book-length stories" might seem a
long way from the stories Gleitzman commonly crafts and which he is
so valued for, but as he says, he would "hate to forget that in
stories a laugh can have a teardrop as a very close neighbour."
However, despite the sombre notes this is a collection that will
keep those newly independent readers, particularly boys, reading and
help them transition to the next phase of their reading journey -
which will probably be a Gleitzman novel - as they show that even
short stories with wicked titles can have great, credible characters
and a depth of plot that makes reading so worthwhile.
Parents, teachers and teacher librarians are blessed to have such a
gifted writer as Gleitzman on their side.
Barbara Braxton