Even though my kids are grown now and I no longer read middle grade books, once in a while I get the itch to do so. Free Pizza was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it immensely. Check out my review and then enter to win a copy.
Book Details:
Book Title: Free Pizza by G.C. McRae
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction, 360 pages
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: MacDonald Warne Media
Release date: May 1, 2019
Tour dates: May 1 to 17, 2019
Content Rating: PG (No sex or drugs, just mild expletives such as "hell" and "damn".)
Book Description:
Brian McSpadden is always hungry. Does he have a disease? Worms? Does it have something to do with his being adopted? He spends his days at his crazy friend Danny’s house, hoping for snacks, but nothing seems to fill the void.
Then Brian receives a mysterious birthday card that says, Free Pizza. He soon discovers the card has nothing to do with food and everything to do with the big questions in his life: where did I come from, why did my mother give me up and is there anyone out there who will like me the way I am?
My Review:
Reviewed by Laura Fabiani
Even though my kids are grown now and I no longer read middle grade books, once in a while I get the itch to do so. Free Pizza was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it immensely. The title is catchy too and has a double meaning.
Twelve-year-old Brian is an adopted child. When he gets the chance to meet his birth mother, he is nervous and very excited. It's summer and Brian is bored and always hungry. He is a growing boy and his mother is stingy with food (my Italian motherly instincts kicked in immediately and I felt frustrated every time he was hungry! I wanted to invite the kid over for lasagna.) Brian hangs around with his friend Danny and what an adventure that summer turns out to be. There was never a boring moment in this novel.
There are two things I loved about this book. The first is that the characters were very well developed and jumped off the page, and I mean all of them. They came across as real, flawed and distinct, making them memorable. The author skilfully portrayed them through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. The second thing I loved is that there is a gamma of emotions that runs through this book. We get to laugh, cringe, and have our heart strings pulled throughout the story as Brian goes through a very emotional time in his life. Also, the author does not leave out the parents as a lot of MG books do. Instead this book is very much about family life: the good, the bad and the ugly. I loved the ending of this story.
G.C. McRae understands life with kids and does not shy away from laying it all bare and tackling serious issues. He's a talented Canadian author whose writing reminds me of the craziness of that of Robert Munsch's. I look forward to reading more of his works, and hopefully soon!
To read reviews, please visit G.C. McRae's page on iRead Book Tours.
G.C. McRae is the bestselling author of two young adult novels, three illustrated children's books and a collection of original fairy tales. His writing is fall-down funny, even when the theme is darker than a coal miner's cough. McRae reads to anybody at any time, in person or online, for free, which probably explains why he meets so many people and sells so many books.
In his latest work, Free Pizza, McRae spins the highly emotional themes from his decidedly unfunny childhood into a brilliantly comic yarn. After being given up for adoption by his teenage mom back when single girls were forced to hide unplanned pregnancies, his adoptive parents didn’t exactly keep him under the stairs but, well, let's just say, there were spiders.
A lot has changed since then. McRae’s own children have now grown and he runs a small farm with his wife, who is herself an award-winning writer.
Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ LibraryThing
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To read reviews, please visit G.C. McRae's page on iRead Book Tours.
Buy the Book:
Meet the Author:
In his latest work, Free Pizza, McRae spins the highly emotional themes from his decidedly unfunny childhood into a brilliantly comic yarn. After being given up for adoption by his teenage mom back when single girls were forced to hide unplanned pregnancies, his adoptive parents didn’t exactly keep him under the stairs but, well, let's just say, there were spiders.
A lot has changed since then. McRae’s own children have now grown and he runs a small farm with his wife, who is herself an award-winning writer.
Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ LibraryThing
Enter the Giveaway!
Ends May 25, 2019
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