How to raise your grown-ups by Lauren Child
Hubert Horatio, Book 1. HarperCollins Children's, 2018. ISBN
9780008264086.
'These stories are about the days when the Bobton-Trents had it
cushy, very cushy indeed.' The Bobton-Trent seniors certainly know
how to make the most of their extravagant wealth - socialising,
doing things, buying things and generally being more than a little
bit irresponsible. Luckily for them, their son Hubert Horatio
Bartle Bobton-Trent is an exceptionally intelligent, talented and
sensible child. Unluckily for Hubert, this tends to mean that a lot
of his spare time is spent steering his rather unruly set of
grown-ups out of trouble. So oblivious are they, they don't realise
that their lavish lifestyle means that their money has run out even
when the Bobton-Trents and their guests sit at a bare dinner table,
waiting for an hour and 22 minutes for the maid to serve them,
unaware that the staff has left. They are also unaware of
their only child's immense talents - he phones his parents at
the age of one, reads at two and, when he tumbles into the pool at
age three, discovers that he is "a natural swimmer" - and when their
financial situation becomes clear to him, he tries ways to raise
money through schemes like hosting board game sessions and opening
the mansion up for tours, but all his schemes fail because his
parents just spend the proceeds. It even becomes his decision to
sell the mansion and downsize to an apartment!
Lauren Child brings her unique combination of story-telling,
illustration and humour to this new series of books for the
newly independent reader. Even though the message about money not
necessarily being the happiness-bringer it is reputed to be may be
lost on the target audience, nevertheless young readers will delight
in the outrageous lifestyle and Hubert's constant vigilance and
tactics to keep the family afloat. Those who are a little older
might like to think about how income is derived and disbursed and
the sorts of decisions that must be made.
With the second episode Alien beings due later this year,
this is a series that will become very popular as the word spreads
among your students.
Barbara Braxton