The Best Medicine

by Christine Hamill

Overview

Philip is twelve years old and life is pretty good. He gets on with his mum and gets by pretty well at school - in spite of girl problems, teacher problems, bully problems and - er - poetry problems. Philip's happy-go-lucky life is disrupted when his mother gets breast cancer. Bad enough that your mother is seriously ill - but could she not have developed a less embarrassing kind of cancer - toe cancer, maybe, or ear cancer? Philip's attempts to cope with his situation are both hilarious and touching. Through it all, he's writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice. A hilarious take on the unfunny subject of cancer; this book brings one of modern life's most prevalent illnesses into the light and gives it a human face

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910411797
Publisher:	Little Island Books
Publication date:	05/18/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	375 KB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Christine Hamill lives with her son in Belfast and teaches creative writing in a college of further education. This is her first novel and her first book for children. She is also the author of a non-fiction book for adults, B is for Breast Cancer. 

Editorial Reviews

2017-01-17
This Irish import's 12-year-old narrator laughs to keep from crying. Aspiring to become a professional comedian, Philip Wright enjoys entertaining his single mother and biggest fan, Kathy, while daily attempting to capture the attention of his art-class crush, "dark-haired goddess" Lucy Wells. When Kathy bursts into tears and locks herself in the bathroom after one of his jokes, Philip thinks he's lost his touch. Prodded by her best friend, Kathy finally tells Philip that she has breast cancer that will require surgery, chemo, and radiation. Philip is initially enraged at how much this news will affect his world, never mind the impossibility of saying "breast" to his friends and teachers. When he finally faces the reality that he could lose his mom, Philip starts behaving like she matters. This novel has a rather slow beginning, with humor that feels too calculated to succeed, including an extended lisping riff, making fun of his Spanish best friend's name (Angel, which Philip shortens to "Ang"), and the occasional reference to poo. The author also fails to explain how this family suffers no economic hardships while its only breadwinner cannot work. Nevertheless, middle-grade readers will identify with Philip's conflicts with his best friend and his antics to win Lucy's affections. Ang aside, the primary characters all appear to be Irish; absence of racial cues indicates that the default is white. A cancer story that struggles to evoke either laughter or tears. (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews