Childrens Book Review: Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever by Eddie Owens

Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever
by Eddie Owens

Released: July 24, 2016
Description:
Millie Hardiman is a thirteen-year-old from Bognor Regis, with a wild imagination, who dreams of becoming a writer.

When Millie’s scriptwriter Dad, Barry, has writer’s block, Millie becomes his muse for the daytime television soap, Double Top.

After her success on Double Top, Millie creates a Sci-Fi, teen drama, The Adventures of Martian Girl.

Millie falls in love for the first time with Wolf Van Der Beek, an arrogant, South African child actor.

This is a story about friendship, first love and growing up.


My Review:
Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever almost sounds like a mystery novel, based on the title, but it’s more of a humorous coming of age story. Millie’s a kid with an over-the-top imagination and a knack for convincing unwary adults her stories are true. It drives her parents crazy, but when her dad hits a mega writing block at the worst possible time, they make a deal with her that opens the floodgates.

First off, I don’t think the description does this justice. It’s quite a fun read, but it’s more about Millie’s crazy stories both bringing her opportunities and getting her into trouble than about her love story and her budding writing career.

Besides the stuff Millie comes up with, I really enjoyed her growth as she pushes the boundaries and begins to recognize that even a fictional tale can have real consequences. The love story was more of a first crush tale, which I found plausible for kids that age. There are lessons to be learned, but overall, the stories and hijinks make it a quick and entertaining read.

The only thing I didn’t particularly care for was some clunky punctuation in the beginning, mostly odd pauses in the flow of the words that led to a lot of having to reread things. I didn’t notice very much of this near the end of the story, though.

Overall, I really liked this story and would recommend it to middle-schoolers and up who like humor and lots of shenanigans.

I received the review copy of this book from the author.


Book Links:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Goodreads


About the Author:

Well, I didn't find much about the author other than a picture and that he was born in Glasgow. Oh, and this quote of his on his Goodreads profile:

“"I didn't read "The Hunger Games" for ages. I thought it was some poxy book about a TV reality cooking show."

Fat Jimmy

From "Fat Jimmy and the Blind Ballerina" due out Jan 2017 (hopefully)”

Author Links:
Goodreads
Amazon.com