Hunky Dory by Jean Ure
I may be too old to read this kind of books but I do enjoy them so much! Until now, I’ve already read four books by Jean Ure and their protagonists are all approaching their teen years. Ah, who cares? These books make me laugh out loud so I don’t have a problem with how young the characters are.
In Hunky Dory, the narrator is Dorian Jones or Dory and he’s “having terrible trouble with girls”. According to him, girls in his form keep acting weird around him. For example, a girl named Amy Wilkerson sat next to him in Geography class and kept getting cosy leaning up to him while talking to her friend who was sitting on his other side. And another girl kept beaming at him in class.
What makes it even more interesting is that Dory’s younger sister’s friend, Linzi, has a crush on Dory. Dory’s younger sister, Annabel or Microdot (Dory’s nickname for her) regularly gives Dory personality quizzes to do so that she can write his profile to tell what kind of person he is. She also hints to him about why he keeps avoiding Linzi. Dory just goes along with these tests to humour his sister.
Dory cannot understand why other girls can’t be like the Herb, his good friend. Her real name is Rosemary but the Herb is her nickname. I don’t know how she got it anyway. Dory, the Herb and Dory’s other good friend, Aaron, spend their free time in Dory’s garden, digging a hole to look for artifacts. Dory is passionately fond of dinosaurs and hopes to become some sort of dinosaur archaeologist when he grows up.
When Dory finds out that his best friend, Aaron, is going out with a girl, he becomes even more confused. He had always thought that his friends were never into girls and that they think girls are quite silly. He is also puzzled when the Herb acts weird sometimes. Once when he suggested inviting another girl over to help dig the hole, the Herb went quite ballistic.
I like the illustrations that go with the story. They’ll appear after every few pages and it helps the reader to visualize what’s going on. A quick, funny and perfect read if you want to know what young kids are up to nowadays.
Buy Hunky Dory
May 18th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
This sounds like a really fun read! I’m a 30 something year old mother but I still love reading my Enid Blytons or any young adult books. As long as reading any book lifts up my day, I’m gonna keep doing it
July 6th, 2009 at 9:53 am
This book DOES sound cute. I like reading young adults from time to time as well, mainly the books I read as teens and have history with. I get all sentimental and excited when I see the covers in the bookstore and think hey, I read those! I want to buy a bunch of books I remember from back then and re-read as well.
October 10th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
@KittyCat: Jean Ure’s books are always fun!
The same goes for me. Reading is truly a joy.
@Erin:
I get sentimental too when I look back at my childhood books. They remind of the great times I had back then when reading them for the first time and all those re-reading sessions.
I hope you find your books!
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I want to recommend my own favorite novel, The Lost Daughter by Daralyse Lyons. It is the best book I’ve ever read and far too obscure. I am recommending it to every woman I know. Poignant!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Daughter-Daralyse-Lyons/dp/0595453953
December 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
@Becky: Thanks for the recommendation, Becky! Will check it out.