Misery Guts

Misery Guts #1

by Morris Gleitzman

'I'm only going to say this once more,' said Dad, 'so listen very carefully. We are not ever, under any circumstance, going to Australia.'What does a kid do when his Mum and Dad are misery guts?Move them to a tropical Paradise, decides Keith. That'll cheer them up.It's a brilliant plan–if he can pull it off.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Young Adult, Australia, Middle Grade, School

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Morris began his writing career as a screenwriter, and wrote his first children's novel in 1985. His brilliantly comic style has endeared him to children and adults alike, and he is now one of Australia's most successful authors, both internationally and at home. He was born in England in 1953 and emigrated to Australia in 1969 so he could escape from school and become a Very Famous Writer.

Before realising that dream, he had a colourful career as paperboy, bottle-shop shelf-stacker, department store Santa Claus, frozen chicken defroster, fashion-design assistant and sugar-mill employee. In between he managed to gain a degree in Professional Writing at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. Later he became sole writer for three award-winning and top-rating seasons with the TV comedy series The Norman Gunston Show.

Morris wrote a number of feature film and telemovie screenplays, including The Other Facts of Life and Second Childhood, both produced by The Australian Children's Television Foundation. The Other Facts of Life won an AWGIE Award for the Best Original Children's Film Script.

He also wrote live stage material for people such as Rolf Harris, Pamela Stephenson and the Governor General of Australia. Morris is well known to many people through his semi-autobiographical columns in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald magazine, Good Weekend, which he wrote for nine years.

But the majority of Morris' accolades are for his hugely popular children's books. One of his most successful books for young people is Two Weeks with the Queen, an international bestseller which was also adapted into a play by Mary Morris. The play had many successful seasons in Australia and was then produced at the National Theatre in London in 1995 directed by Alan Ayckbourn, and also in South Africa, Canada, Japan and the USA.

All his other books have been shortlisted for or have won numerous children's book prizes. These include The Other Facts of Life, Second Childhood, Misery Guts, Worry Warts, Puppy Fat, Blabber Mouth, Sticky Beak, Belly Flop, Water Wings, Bumface, Gift Of The Gab, Toad Rage, Wicked! and Deadly!, two six-part novels written in collaboration with Paul Jennings, Adults Only, Toad Heaven, Boy Overboard, Teacher's Pet, Toad Away, Girl Underground, Worm Story, Once, Aristotle's Nostril, Doubting Thomas, Give Peas A Chance, Then, Toad Surprise, Grace, Now, Too Small To Fail, and his latest book, Pizza Cake. Morris' children's books have been published in the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia and Czechoslovakia, Russia and China.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really funny! I definitley recommend this book to everyone! It's such a great book! When I first saw the cover I thought that I would hate the book but when I finished reading it I loved it!

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was good lit even

[JaneBoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed some of this book because it was a bit tiresome, however, I liked the positivity of the young fullah. Some good Aussie jargon to get your head around and I enjoyed the thought-provoking originality of the similes. 'Her forehead was more corrugated than the dirt road out to Meninga'. Classic!

[Kimberley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny book, poor kid who can't seem to do anything right,...but his heart is in the right place. My sixth graders enjoyed it. :)

[Anna Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I last read this book as a teenager and I enjoyed it now just as much as I did back then. A fun, engaging story with a great message about positive mindsets.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. Love the way it finished, making the reader see the story through the eyes of the other characters other than the narrator.

[Brooke Stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Shivani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor kid too much worry at such a young age. Thank goodness for a touch of gleitzman light heartdness!

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely written young adult book

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic Aussie book for kids about a permanently cheerful but also highly anxious English boy who is determined to cheer up his parents at all costs, whether that means painting their fish ‘n’ chip shop with Tropical Mango High Gloss, or encouraging them to move across the globe to Far North Queensland. I loved this when I was younger, and happy to say it still holds up.

[Nat Hookway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun book. 2.5 stars I wouldn’t say it was great but I enjoyed it enough. I would say this is for younger readers 7-12 year olds.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for school. Honestly it was depressing

[SBC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I decided it was time I got around to trying Morris Gleitzman and I was feeling a bit of a misery guts so I decided it would be a good pick-me-up. It was. Keith was such a delightful character and the story flowed so that I wanted to read on to see what Keith would get up to next. I chuckled, I laughed, I smiled, it was so funny! Gleitzman had a great turn of phrase, and painted a great mental picture of Keith and what he was trying to achieve. People had told me Gleitzman was easy to read and they were right. It was very enjoyable.

Keith is a 12 year old British boy. He is cheerful but his parents and everyone else he knows are misery guts. He tries to do (disastrous!) things to cheer them up which are very funny, then decides only a move to sunny Australia will do it. The only thing is, his parents don't decide to go until after he accidentally burns down their house and fish n chip shop, so when he gets there he naturally feels its his responsibility that they're there, and when he finds out about all the dangerous things in Paradise, he's anxious that they mustn't find out. They do cheer up once they get there, but Keith starts getting down, worrying about it. Then after a big storm he finds out they already knew before they left so they can all be happy. I loved the way the end tied in with the beginning, with the painting of the fish shop Tropical Mango Hi-Gloss.

[Andrew Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on my placement school's reading list for pupils, yet it isn't a well-known story nor does it seem to appear in many libraries or online reviews. Keith's decision to paint his miserable mum and dad's house orange in an effort to cheer them up doesn't come off, so he then tries to persuade them to move to Australia to make them live happier lives instead! Children are invariably free-spirited and keen to give new experiences a try in contrast to their parents' caution, which they may, similar to Keith, view as adults being 'misery guts'; thus Keith and his efforts are likely to connect with their own experiences. At the same time however, whether parents would view this
book as helpful in managing their children's adventurous desires is another question! Either way, this story certainly encourages children's imaginations and promotes a positive outlook to live for the moment, something all of us as adults would do well to keep in mind when the drudgery of life gets us down.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith is a young boy who lives in South London with his parents - the 'misery guts' of the title. Their fish and chip shop is struggling, and they've lost their happy go lucky attitude. Keith does all he can think of to make them happy, but none of his ideas work. He wants them to move to Australia, how can they not be happy in 'paradise'? He accidentally burns down the chip shop, and they decide to make the move. They get to open a new shop and they're finally happy, but all the stress of protecting his parents from the dangers in Australia (killer crocodiles and jellyfish etc) ends up making Keith the 'misery guts'.

This is a sweet and funny book, that is very relatable to, which kept me entertained throughout. Keith is an optimistic little boy, trying his best to help make his parents happy again, and I enjoyed reading about his escapades.

It would be appropriate for KS2 pupils, and a good addition to a classroom library for independent reading.

[Kelsey Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has always been one of my favorite childhood books. I have no idea where my mom got it, but she read a little of it to my brother and I every day when I was, maybe nine. We laughed a lot, and loved it! I still read it every once in a while, and I'm still waiting, after seven and a half years, to read the companion novel, "Worry Warts" :)

"...you can make it up to us in baby-sitting. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Diana?"

"Our last baby-sitter," she said, "cut her head open on the microwave"(61).

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Morris Gleitzman and a real treat to read. Brilliant language, wonderful story and just perfectly written for middle-grade kids (and their parents). Had me hooked right from the start. One review says that MG writes at the same level as Dahl and I have to agree. Same level as Neil Gaiman too. Different style but high quality.

[Patelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how Keith tries so hard to make his parents happy because I think it's so important that people do this to others it's just really nice even if the person they're doing it for doesn't really accept it.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

haha used to be one of my favs

[Dylan Barber]

This a pretty good book

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this story as a child and liked it but I didn't find it a great read. I would recommend this for younger children.

[Gypsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for school
didn't enjoy it

[Kelsey Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was a little kid! :-)

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember loving this book as a kid. Morris Gleitzman was one of my favourite writers.

[Alisha Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morris Gleitzman was one of my absolute favourite childhood authors - I even got his autograph! His books are light and easy to read and have a comedic value only Andy Griffiths could match.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids and I really enjoyed this one. Almost a boy version of Junie B. Jones. Very funny. (But sorry to say, I wouldn't recommend reading the following 2 books in the series.)

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-reading. Original read as part of my children's literature studies in the late 90s. The story a parallel to my partner's move to Australia at the age of 12 and a half.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keith decides that his family should move from grey Britain to sunny Australia! Grand idea, I say!

[Nan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was pretty good. I used to love it when I was like 11 XD

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun little story about a kid who just wants his family to be happy. It's very sweet and quite funny, I liked it as a kid.