Two Weeks with the Queen (Puffin Modern Classics)

Gleitzman, Morris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141314559 ISBN 13: 9780141314556

Publisher: Puffin Classics, 2003

A humorous but deeply moving story about Colin who refuses to believe that his younger brother is dying of cancer and decides to take things into his own hands. Colin decides to go to the top for help, none other than the Queen. Colin's efforts to penetrate the British establishment are hilarious, surprising and doomed to failure, but although Colin can't find a cure for cancer, he does find a way to help some of the new friends he makes, as well as discovering the best thing he can do for Luke.

Review:

When Luke gets cancer it seems to Colin that it is just another way of his little brother trying to get attention. But when Colin is sent to England he hatches a plot that will really make his mum and dad sit up and take notice. If he can just get to the Queen to ask if he can borrow the best doctor in the country then all will be well.

Two Weeks With the Queen is a delight from beginning to end, and brilliantly combines comedy and tragedy as Colin embarks on his hilarious mission. The reluctance of adults to discuss Luke's illness is incredibly well observed, and Colin's dream of resolving his family's problems and becoming the hero of the piece is dealt with so tenderly amid the laugh-out-loud comedy that it is nigh on impossible not to shed a tear. A brilliant book from Australia's best-loved children's author. --Susan Harrison

Review:

"A gem of a book." (The Guardian)