By Frank Cottrell Boyce
Reviewed by TFK Kid Reporter Tyler Jakubek

Genre: Fantasy

Number of pages: 311

The story is about a smart 12-year-old boy named Liam Digby. Liam lives in England with his parents. He loves video games and amusement parks. He has one problem: he is so tall and mature looking for his age that people mistake him for an adult and have adult expectations of him. Liam turns this to his advantage by pretending to be his dad and entering a contest for a parent and child to take a trip to a new amusement park. Liam wins the trip and then has to recruit his friend, Florida, to pretend to be his daughter. The trip turns out to be a rocket ride to the moon, and Liam and Florida encounter lots of crazy situations. They learn a lot about themselves as they travel to outer space and back.

The characters were very believable even though the situations were fantasy. It is hard to believe that a 12-year-old boy would have a beard and that he would pilot a spaceship between Earth and the moon. But the emotions that Liam experiences on his journey (fear, competitiveness, excitement) are all very realistic. The dialogue between the characters is realistic, too.

I would rate this book as an 8. It was funny and entertaining with surprising plot twists. I was interested to find out what would happen next. This was a long book, so I would recommend it for people who really like to read.