Book Review - A Boy Called Hope

Title: A Boy Called Hope
Author: Lara Williamson
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Release Date: 1 Mar. 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1409570318

Synopsis
I'm Dan Hope and deep inside my head I keep a list of things I want to come true.
For example, I want my sister, Ninja Grace, to go to university at the North Pole and only come back once a year.
I want to help Sherlock Holmes solve his most daring mystery yet. And if it could be a zombie mystery, all the more exciting.
I want to be the first eleven-year-old to land on the moon.
I want my dog to stop eating the planets and throwing them up on the carpet.
And finally, the biggest dream of all, I want my dad to love me. 

My Review
This was the last book I had to read for Children's Book of the Year day at work and I had heard really good things. My colleagues had read it first and they all told me how good it was and two of them said it made them cry, so I expected a lot. Maybe that was the problem - it was so bigged up to me that there was no way it could live up to my expectations.
The book started off quite well and I was fairly intrigued but I soon got a little bored in places, the storyline seemed fairly slow for me but at the same time quite predictable, there were moments when I was practically shouting at Dan to wake up and pay attention, he missed the most obvious things! But I did always feel sorry for Dan, he has got things a bit tough and he has lot to deal with but my annoyance at his character made it so I couldn't relate or feel for him as much as I would like. 
But saying that I didn't twig the twist about his new brother at all and really enjoyed that revelation, in fact I found myself enjoying the book a lot more when I got to the last 100 pages or so, I felt it picked up a lot pace and character wise. My favourite character is Big Dave, he's great and he really made me laugh, he's a great guy and you can see how much he cares about Dan and his mum. 
Overall I was quite conflicted with this book as I really struggled at first and then sort of enjoyed the ending. I think that maybe if I go back to it one day in the future I may enjoy it a lot more, and I think that it would be a very enjoyable read for children. It is moving and funny and Dan does turn out to be quite relateable. Worth reading for sure, I just wish I had got into it a bit more.

My Rating