Book Title: Free Pizza by G.C. McRae
Category: Middle-Grade Fiction, 360 pages
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: MacDonald Warne Media
Release date: May 1, 2019
Content Rating: PG (No sex or drugs, just mild expletives such as “hell” and “damn”.)

Synopsis

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Brian McSpadden is always hungry. Does he have a disease? Worms? Does it have something to do with his being adopted? He spends his days at his crazy friend Danny’s house, hoping for snacks, but nothing seems to fill the void.

​Then Brian receives a mysterious birthday card that says, Free Pizza. He soon discovers the card has nothing to do with food and everything to do with the big questions in his life: where did I come from, why did my mother give me up and is there anyone out there who will like me the way I am?

Review

I found this to be a well written book that explores what some kids may be experiencing in their lives.  Brian is adopted, and while loved by his parents, he wonders how he fits into the family after his parents had two biological children.  The parents never hid the fact from him which I appreciate.  However, I did find it odd that his mother would conspire with his biological mother for them to meet when he was just twelve with no word to Brian asking if he would like to meet her, just “Hey Brian, your bio mom is calling tomorrow at 11 and you get to talk to her”.  Granted Brian wants to meet his biological mom and get to know her so that is a positive to the situation.

Brian has two younger brothers and one has a nose that consistently is running.  The mom in this story is beyond frugal and I feel sorry for Brian not being able to have as much to eat as he needs.  Thankfully the father steps in and tells her to feed the kids!  The younger siblings can be a hoot but annoying at the same time for Brian, but that is the way it is in most families between siblings.

Brian and Danny are co-conspirators in normal adolescent behavior that somehow Brian gets blamed for or roped into situations that he was not an active participant.  I did chuckle at some of the escapades such as Danny falling onto a greenhouse and the work they ended up doing for the neighbor that owned said greenhouse.  There was a little bit of a mystery to the situation such as who really was this neighbor, what were his employees searching for, and who was the mystery woman Danny saw in the house?

This story covers a myriad of situations that a child or teenager might experience and would give them a character to relate to if they read this book.  It might spur some conversations between parents and their children.  There is mild profanity that I wish the book did not include.  It seems like our children are becoming spewers of profanity at younger ages and I wish it was not included in their books.

Overall we give it 3 1/2 paws and think that this book could be good for a pre-teen trying to find himself and seeing what other kids his age are experiencing.

About the Author

G.C. McRae is the bestselling author of two young adult novels, three illustrated children’s books and a collection of original fairy tales. His writing is fall-down funny, even when the theme is darker than a coal-miner’s cough. McRae reads to anybody at any time, in person or online, for free, which probably explains why he meets so many people and sells so many books.

In his latest work, Free Pizza, McRae spins the highly emotional themes from his decidedly unfunny childhood into a brilliantly comic yarn. After being given up for adoption by his teenage mom back when single girls were forced to hide unplanned pregnancies, his adoptive parents didn’t exactly keep him under the stairs but, well, let’s just say, there were spiders.

A lot has changed since then. McRae’s own children have now grown and he runs a small farm with his wife, who is herself an award-winning writer.

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Giveaway

Prizes:

Win 1 of 15 prizes from the author of “Free Pizza”. Two winners will receive a print book. Three winners will receive a print book + $20 Amazon GC and 10 winners will receive an ebook copy of Free Pizza (open to USA & Canada / 15 winners total)

(ends May 25, 2019)

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