I was immediately drawn to this book as so many of the children I work with are currently loving the doodle-style of books such as Louie Stowell's Loki and also anything with a bit of mystery. The story also really appealed to me and I liked the idea that other characters clearly know more about what's going on than the main character, Jake, does. My only slight issue with the book was the seemingly random bold words. This just felt too much and I didn't feel it really added anything. I did get used to (ignoring) it though and it would in no way put me off from recommending the book to the children in Years 5 and 6 where I work.

I felt compelled to read this because the catchy cover reminded me of Jacqueline Wilson's work. However, the story failed to engage me despite its elements of suspense and mystery. I found myself plowing through just for the sake of it. Thankfully, it's a short book.

I appreciate the author saying how she wanted to create an "authentic and nuanced picture of mental illness and those affected by it" but I didn't find it particularly well-done here. Jake sounds like a child who needs professional help himself but this is largely ignored. Instead, the adults around him keep things from him, which is more damaging than useful.

I also wanted to know more about his mother's condition, though the focus was mostly on Jake and him coming to terms with what's going on. It was interesting seeing things from his POV and I liked the ending, but I wanted so much more out of this book.

Note: My digital ARC had random words ALL IN CAPS which was very distracting and felt like the protagonist was shouting every other sentence. It doesn't affect my rating, just the reading experience, but still.

While we both found this book enjoyable, there were some issues with it.

My main problem with the book was the age of the main character, Jake. While it appeared he goes to senior school and is around 14/15 based on the fact his best friend plays in an under 15's football team, I found him to appear much younger than this. While the idea is that the character is confused by the mystery of his missing mum, I still thought he seemed to handle this in a way that appeared much younger than he was supposed to be. I don't think Riley picked up on this as much as me as there were just subtle hints towards his actual age - but Riley identified more with him and I'd suggest that is because he is 10 and probably more like the age that Jake appears to act in the book.

While great that this book approaches the subject of mental health, I think this could have been explained more, as Jake comes to a realisation about why his mum has disappeared. I don't think Riley understood that side of it as much as he could have, had there been some more information included, still in an age appropriate way. However, he did enjoy the book and kept asking me to read it so he clearly liked it!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

*DNF on StoryGraph*

I enjoyed the book and feel that children will definitely enjoy as well but in the end had to mark as DNF.

I appreciated that it seemed to pull on the author’s own experiences, and approached the subject really well - in a way that is accessible for children. I loved the diary aspects at points and how it introduces new vocabulary to it’s readers. I think this would be a great book for primary school children (maybe Year 4+) and think this new vocab and explanations of new words is such a great addition.

I also really liked the font and change in letters. I think it would keep children entertained and know of other texts that have done this and children have loved it.

Ultimately, what made it DNF for me was that it felt a bit repetitive from sentence to sentence quite often. I think that distracted me from the text but would be good for children working on their readin

This was a great middle grade read that had some valuable messages. It revolved around mental health in adults and how it affected children. This is a very important book for middle-grade readers that highlights the importance of mental health. I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I received an ARC of The Mystery of the Missing Mum, by Frances Moloney. This is a sweet and sometimes sad story about Jake. His mother is missing, someone is bullying him, and his best friend is moving away.

I’m very sorry, but I couldn’t get through even half of this story because of the constant capital and bold letters. It distracted me so much whilst reading that I couldn’t invest in any part of it, however a child will surely enjoy it by reading it on their own or it being read to them.