Back to school with Rob Keeley's new collection of funny, heartwarming stories

 

Title: The Boy Who Disappeared and Other Stories

Author: Rob Keeley

Published: March 28, 2023

Pages: 184

Genre: Middle Grade

Buy The Boy Who Disappeared

What Goodreads has to say:

Ellis is annoying Isla... but suddenly he isn’t there...

Oscar’s written what he thinks about everyone... and left the paper in a library book...

Fletcher becomes a hero to Suzie...

Tessa takes action when her school bans hugging...

Holly Class wind up Pine Class on Transition Day...

Paul really doesn’t want to go to big school...

Myra hates her new school... until she meets Shane...

And more...

A brand-new collection of short stories from award-winning children’s and YA author Rob Keeley.

Includes Guess What? – shortlisted for Best Short Story 2022 at the Searchlight Writing for Children Awards – and two new Liam and Justin stories. Suitable for the 8-12s, and with primary and secondary school stories, this collection is fast, funny and packed with twists and turns.

What I have to say:

Oh, to be in elementary school again--or as it's known in England, primary school (I think I got that right, to be honest, I still don't understand the British school system). 

JK. I'm fine. While it was a good time and all, I think if someone told me I had to do it all again, I would simply run away from civilization. Then again, there's something to be said for the structure and familiar safety of those early school days. Maybe that's why I symphathized with Paul, a boy who really really REALLY doesn't want to graduate to "big kid" school. So much so that he fakes his identity and manages to attend the class one grade down from his for a surprisingly long time before anyone realizes the truth. I'm with you, Paul. Stay a kid as long as you can.

Rob Keeley's latest book, The Boy Who Disappeared and Other Stories, is delightful, sweet, and funny. Am I surprised? Not one bit. At this point, I'd be surprised if I read a Rob Keeley book that was anything less than that.

Written for a middle grade audience, all but one of the stories center around school in one form or another: whether it's making friends, standing up to bullies, breaking ridiculous rules, covering ridiculous blunders, or just dealing with the whole messy tragicomedy of growing up.

Aside from the story about Paul ("The Real David Ashwood"), some of my favorites were "Guess What?" in which a simple accident of spilled eggs launches a plethora of out-of-control rumors; and "A School Knight," in which a girl develops a huge crush on an older boy who turns out to have a lot of other admirers as well....

These stories, all of them fun and thoroughly enjoyable, brought back to me those days at school when everything was so simple and yet so complicated, when teachers were the prime arbiters of justice, hugging someone of the opposite sex was the leading cause of cooties, and a friend moving out of town was the end of the world. 

I remember that, like Tessa and her friends who decide to protest their school's ban on hugging, my friends and I once "went on strike" (though we had no idea what that meant) when our school removed one of our favorite pieces of equipment from the playground. I remember, like Myra and Suzie, thinking that the older kids were so cool and so grownup, that when they deigned to take notice of me, it was a high honor. I remember, like Paul, being terrified of having to leave the classroom and teacher I'd gotten familiar and comfortable with. And when I had to go to an entirely different school, it was just too much to expect one kid to deal with.

In short, I smiled my way through this humorous and heartwarming collection of stories, sure to delight both the young and young-at-heart. 

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