You may never wear rose-tinted glasses again…
A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan, published by Usborne, is a fabulous, inventive read. It is as if the phrase ‘rose-tinted glasses’ has been created just for this book which, if you loved Beetle Boy, you will enjoy immensely.
A vivid tale with glasses that stop you going blind
Helena has weaved a vivid tale about Violet, a new girl in a town call Perfect. Everyone wears rose-tinted glasses to stop going blind and promptly lose themselves in being perfect – including Violet’s mum. Her father, an opthalmologist (eye surgeon) is employed by the controlling Archer brothers who run Perfect and manufacture a rather intoxicating tea that perfectionists drink like water. When Violet’s father disappears, she uncovers the truth about Perfect with Boy, who comes from No-Man’s-Land where the rejects of Perfect live.
Dahl-like villains and a convincing, not-so-perfect world
The Archer brothers are Dahl-like and the world seems so convincing that I’m rather worried as I slurp my cup of tea whilst writing this review!
The cover art by Karl James Mountford captures the quirkiness of Helena’s world and I was often drawn to the detailed map to remind myself where I was in Perfect.
A fun book with a dark side and plucky heroine
It’s a fun book with a dark side and a rather frightening premise that we can all see things through a different lens and lose our own power of thought – alarming similarities to our media driven world that sways public opinion on a single tweet.
It reminds me of the power of books and how important stories like A Place Called Perfect are for our children (and adults) because to be free thinking is to stand out from the crowd, prepared to be outcast, and this is exactly what our plucky Violet has to face.
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