Neville No-Phone

    Neville No-Phone by Anna Branford and Kat Chadwick (Walker Books)
PB RRP $15.99
ISBN 9781921529962

Reviewed by Vicki Stanton

It is no wonder that Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot was awarded Honour Book in the Younger Readers category for the 2011 CBCA for Anna Branford has a remarkable ability to tap into the heads of her target readership.

Neville No-Phone is a hilarious account of how Neville and his friend Enzo endeavour to obtain a mobile phone. Neville speaks from the page in this story written in first person, present tense. The boys firstly try to convince their parents that they need a mobile phone since, they claim, everyone else has one. Their efforts are to no avail. When they find a mobile phone left on a seat in a bus shelter it leads them into trouble with their parents, teacher and conscience.

Both Neville and Enzo are wonderful characters. They are fun and inventive and find that having a mobile phone is not all it’s cracked up to be. The story moves from them wanting a device to learning more about communicating with others. The secondary characters, particularly the boys’ parents and Dennis, are full of life and add much to the story.

Kat Chadwick’s numerous black-and-white illustrations capture the mood of the text perfectly. This is a book that younger readers are sure to enjoy.