Wagstaffe, the Wind-Up Boy

Jan Needle (author)

Roy Bentley (illustrations)

Lions, UK: 1987; 165pp

ISBN: 0006729762

Genres: adventure, humour

Issues: identity,values

This is not your average ‘good boy has an interesting adventure' story. Well, it wouldn't be, because Wagstaffe Winstanley Watkins Williams is definitely not good.

 In fact, he is so awful that one day he wakes to find a note from his parents saying, ‘Dear Wagstaffe, You're so horrible that we've run away together for a better life. You will never, ever, see us again. P.S. Don't forget to clean the lavatory. It's Tuesday.'

Most boys would be upset by this. Not Wagstaffe. At first he is deeply suspicious, thinking that perhaps his nasty parents are playing yet another malicious joke on him. A detailed search of the house convinces him that they really have gone, so he can do whatever he likes. Wagstaffe's idea of fun is a little dangerous, however, as it includes playing on the motor-way and throwing rotten eggs at the traffic. When he is side-swiped by a large truck, Wagstaffe's adventures truly begin. He wakes up from a very long operation to find that his body is not what it used to be. Very little of his original body remains, in fact.

After a while Wagstaffe realises that his new, wind-up intestines and the various useful gadgets a clever doctor has installed can be quite useful. Especially useful when he learns that his runaway parents, now world-famous circus performers, seem to be in terrible danger from a heartless con-man. Although he really didn't like them, and they really didn't like him, Wagstaffe feels that he should probably rescue them anyway. After all, oil is thicker than water. Stowing away in the tyre of a plane in order to get to America is just the beginning, as Wagstaffe tries to catch up with his parents before they are sent over Niagara Falls without a barrel.

Readers who enjoy Paul Jennings, Morris Gleitzman, and Andy Griffiths, will enjoy this blackly humorous story about a very naughty boy getting into all sorts of trouble - and out of it again. There are many absolutely terrible puns, very rude jokes and much that is gross and revolting. A great story for many children, in other words, and fun to read aloud for any adult who is brave enough!