Worst. Holiday. Ever by Charlie Higson

A hilarious new book by bestselling author Charlie Higson.

Do you remember the first couple of sleepovers or camp you did as a kid? The fear and new feelings of being away from home, family and your comfort zone. Well, Stan a twelve-year-old boy who is a shy, sheltered kid and worrier is off on holiday to Italy with his fifth best friend Felix and Felix’s family who are a bunch of strangers. Oh! What could go wrong?

We meet Stan at the airport and he introduces us to his Duck It List while on holidays (opposite of bucket list), a list of things not to do. And you can probably guess ….. he ends up doing more than half of the things on the list. His mum is also a list maker.

At the airport Stan meets an older couple, Simon and Emma, who he boards the plane with to Italy (total strangers to him but part of Felix’s family). And his adventure begins.

Will Stan let loose and have fun? Or will it be his worst holiday ever?

Written in a first person narrative we see the world in Stan’s eyes. He is a great observer so we learn lots about the kids and adults he spends his holiday with. Anything can happen on holiday. New foods, spontaneous conversations and adventures. There’s lots of laugh-out-loud scenes, moments of frustration and agony as we follow his holiday adventure. He mixes with different people and discovers not everyone is perfect or has a perfect family. At the same time Stan is also concerned about his dad, who back at home had been admitted to hospital with a heart condition and his mum won’t give him details.

I enjoyed reading Worst. Holiday. Ever. And think it’s a great book to read if you suffer anxiety in doing new things. Stan discovers on his holiday that he can overcome some of his fears without really trying and finds out that he enjoys the things he has not tried to do before due to fear.

Also, loved the cover and illustrations by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell throughout the book.

If you like a good laugh, this is a great book to read.

Themes: Personal and social, Holiday adventure, Humour.

Maria Komninos