Birthday Boy, by David Baddiel

If you wanted to buy a book as a birthday gift for a boy aged 8-11 and went to trusty old google to help you out by searching ‘birthday boy book’ you would be in luck, because this is the first result you would get back. A very clever and thoughtful Aunty gave this to our boy on his 8th birthday last week and he loved it – extending his birthday into the week as he continued to read it.  Which is exactly what you would expect from a book about an 11 yr old, who has a groundhog day experience, after wishing to have his birthday every day comes true.

The premise of this book is pretty straightforward.

A boy has a birthday – boy thinks one birthday is great so more would be better – boy has a magical experience with nighttime/stars/wishing – boys gets what he wants – things go well until they don’t – boy hatches a plan – things go back to normal.

The lesson to be learned is: be grateful, not greedy. Adults have probably seen or read this type of story many times, so it might not seem that original or interesting. But for an 8 yr old who has a more limited frame of reference, this is a dynamic and exciting book.

It is really well written for this age group, it is clever and witty, it is detailed in a way that draws you in. The main character Sam is very likable and kids will relate to his character easily. As with many popular kids’ chapter books, the parents are quite passive characters in the action of the book. While they are the ones who make sure the daily birthday rituals get celebrated every day, they never wise up and point out that this is a problem. They never question why this is happening.

One thing I really like about this book is the relationship Sam has with his 8 yr old sister, Ruby. It is lovely the way he is honest with her, revealing that he wants to un-wish his wish, and then entrusting her to help him carry out his plan.

This is a great book for birthday and non-birthday boys and girls. And now I’m off to reserve David Baddiel’s other 3 books from the library.