Hamish's Adolescent Novel 5/5

Tickled Onions

Written by Gleitzman, Tickled Onions is a book that consists of nine short stories. One of the short stories in Tickled Onions is about a young boy called Clyde who is dissatisfied with his current situation compared to his fellow peers which is impacting upon his social status at school. This changes when he befriends a class mate and learns more about this student’s personal life and demeanour. Another short story from this book is titled Draclia which revolves around two main characters which are an older and younger brother, who are concerned with convincing and educating his younger brother Will about vampires and their certain traits. 

In the first short story of Tickled Onions, Gleitzman has created at the beginning of the story a third person narration in which the main characters points of view are accounted for rather than the story written through the eyes of solely the main character. During this short story titled ‘Draclia’ the narration of this text takes a first person view in favour for the main character of the story, Corey. Gleitzman cleverly does this by writing the thoughts and actions that Corey takes in order to convince his younger brother Will who is five, that everyone around him is not a vampire. This book connects with current cultural trends and fads that are prevalent in our youth by connecting for example to the Twilight series in the short story ‘Draclia.’ The author uses this as a platform to deliver morals and guidance to the reader.

Another short story incorporated into this novel called Tickled Onions, puts across the moral to always be aware of other people’s situations, and look at the positives in your own life. This was prevalent with Clyde who was embarrassed about his parents constantly creating rather embarrassing meals for his lunch box at school. However, he soon realises a much more serious situation when he begins a friendship with a fellow class mate who has lost his mum, and is ridiculed for his obesity by his peers.  

The author uses many adverbs and verbs throughout this novel to paint a picture in the readers mind, and give the text a more interesting appeal. This makes Gleitzman’s books a suitable choice for children as it enriches their understanding of literature. This book would be suitable for a upper primary/middle class due to the more in depth social concepts that the book uses as its foundation for the narratives.