Rhino Boy Book

A story about a teenage boy with a rhinoceros horn in the middle of his forehead demands to be read--so unlikely is its central theme, so bizarre its overlapping tale of family strife and bullying that readers should come away from John Brindley's Rhino Boy with mixed feelings of fascination, hilarity and sometimes gut-wrenching tragedy.Despite his mad mother, nagging sister, absentee drunken father and overbearing friends, Ryan Bright is an ordinary young man. His life only becomes extraordinary when he smacks a kid around the head at school for taking the mickey out of a particularly nasty spot on Ryan's forehead. The spot then develops into a white, solid, painful rhino horn. This growing protuberance attracts all the wrong kind of attention--at the most embarrassing time in Ryan's life when he just wants a hole in the ground to open up and swallow him. The baying media frenzy camped outside his front door he can just about cope with. It's the other things closer to home--the more personal stuff--that are causing him an even bigger headache.It's difficult to judge whether this unconventional, but surprisingly readable, novel will find the appreciative audience it deserves. John Brindley tries to use a distinctly unrealistic angle to tell the very real story of an angry young man who needs to learn a few hard lessons in life--and he just about manages to pull it off. If for no other reason, try Rhino Boy simply because the whole idea of a boy with a whopping great rhinoceros horn sticking out of his head is so wonderfully ludicrous. 11 and over. --John McLayENDRead More