Book Review: The Bubble Wrap Boy by Phil Earle

I wonder how Charlie would react if he actually found out a shocking secret.

All my life I've been tiny Charlie from the Chinese Chippie, whose only friend is Sinus, the kid who stares at walls. But I believe that everyone's good at something. I've just got to work out what my something is...
 
Charlie's found his secret talent: skateboarding. It's his one-way ticket to popularity. All he's got to do is practice, and nothing's going to stop him - not his clumsiness, not his overprotective mum, nothing. Except Charlie isn't the only one in his family hiding a massive secret, and his next discovery will change everything. How do you stay on the board when your world is turned upside down?

This book annoys me more than I enjoyed it. It's the secret I think, it was petty obvious what type it of secret it was going to be and it is not as big as the blurb makes it out to be. It might freak you out a little bit, it certainly does not change everything. He does not turn out to be a lost heir to a throne or something.

His mum annoys me a lot, because she really just a bad parent. She treats Charlie more like a object than a son, she doesn't think about him as a person. She is inconsistent with her overprotectiveness. She lets him walk to school and make food delivery, as someone who has overprotective parents, not a chance in hell. She also buys him a death trap of a bike and the wrong equipment for it. She also doesn't care where he is. He wanders around town whilst she in the house.

Charlie also gets punished for trying to make new friends. Sinus isn't really a friend to Charlie, that does sort of changed, but to start with they're only really friends because the other is only one around which is not that great a base for friendship. Generally, it seems Charlie lives in a town of arses. The book opens with him getting the blame for something out of his control even by the teacher.

Generally, I didn't feel for any of the characters, despite heart strings being pulled. I just didn't find myself connecting with Charlie. Maybe it's because he didn't know who Tony Hawks was. I wasn't allowed to skateboard either.

Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars for wasted bubble wrap. This book tries to be funny whilst having this deep level that doesn't work. I feel like it tries too hard. There were certain moments that I did enjoy but they were overshadowed by the features that I really didn't like.

 I got this off Netgalley for Review. It published by Penguin and is out now.