Review of My Parents Are Out of Control – Book 2 of the How to Train Your Parents series by Pete Johnson

This is the second book in this entertaining series – see my review of How To Train Your Parents. After this one made my dyslexic granddaughter laugh as I read it to her, I went ahead and got hold of the rest of the series.

Louis doesn’t think much of it when his mum and dad ask him for tips on how to be cool. In fact, he thinks it’s pretty funny watching them bump fists and use words like ‘safe’, ‘sick’ and ‘wicked’. Until Dad turns up outside Louis’s new school dressed like a rapper, that is. . . Suddenly they’re trying to friend Louis and all his classmates on Facebook, and wearing baseball caps backwards – IN PUBLIC. Louis and his best friend Maddy are horrified. Mum and Dad have taken things too far . . . and immediate action is needed!

This book pretty much picks up where the first book left off in the ongoing story of Louis’s life as a 12-year-old trying to fit in at school and negotiate parental expectations, while furthering his career as a professional comedian. It isn’t absolutely necessary to have read the first book, but as events that occur in this slice of Louis’s adventures are impacted by what has gone on before, I recommend you do so to get the best of out of the book.

The strength in Johnson’s writing is that he addresses a lot of the major concerns most 12 year olds are experiencing – so this isn’t a children’s story where adults are somehow airbrushed out of the picture. Indeed, much of the humour and impetus in the story comes from Louis’s interaction with his parents. I love the fact that as Louis pours out his thoughts on their behaviour to his diary, we get to see their actions through his own take on the situation – while also understanding as adults what is going on in their lives and what is driving them to behave the way they do. So this is a book to be read on two levels, depending on which generation you are. It’s cleverly done and as a result is a funny, yet compassionate look at family life in the 21st century, as Johnson presents us with a father suddenly fragile as he is confronted with his own middle age at a time when his position at work comes under threat.

Louis’s take on his father’s attempts to stay young and cool goes from amused tolerance to utter horror, when his father starts using the latest phrases on Louis’s classmates and overhauls his wardrobe. Meanwhile, Louis is having problems of his own, as the new school doesn’t seem to be working out all that well – to the extent that his much-hated former school is starting to look like a cosy haven…

I thoroughly enjoyed this light-hearted look at what is actually a fairly gnarly subject and am looking forward to seeing what Frances makes of it. Very highly recommended.
10/10