Review of Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever by Eddie Owens

Title: Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever

Author: Eddie Owens
Genre: Middle Age, Humor
Rating: 4/5 "I liked it."

I received an eARC of this novel from Eddie Owens in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Description from GoodReads
Millie Hardiman is a thirteen year old from Bognor Regis, with a wild imagination, who dreams of becoming a writer. 

When Millie’s scriptwriter Dad, Barry, has writer’s block, Millie becomes his muse for the daytime television soap, Double Top. 

After her success on Double Top, Millie creates a Sci-Fi, teen drama, The Adventures of Martian Girl.

Millie falls in love for the first time with Wolf Van Der Beek, an arrogant, South African child actor. 

This is a story about friendship, first love and growing up.



My Thoughts
Reading this novel was definitely a move away from my typical books. I tend to focus on so many fantasy or sci-fi pieces that I forget to look to some of the more realistic ones from time to time.  I am very thankful that Eddie Owens gave me the opportunity to do exactly that.

This novel focuses on Millie, but I really could not stand her. I think that she was very strongly written, but her lack of respect for the adults around her was a hard pill for this teacher to take.  How could her parents stand her calling them by her first names?  How did she escape major punishments for such major lies?  While entertaining, it was very difficult for me to deal with.  I did admire her creativity as well as her ability to stick to the stories that she creates. This may be a good way for my students to observe the effects of lying and the need for honesty.  I hate to take the fun out of everything, but lets keep the storytelling to the soap opera.

I thought that Owens did a fantastic job of introducing and maintaining a theme that teaches about the importance of honesty.  Despite my frustrations about Millie's actions, I felt that younger students could learn quite a bit from this book.  

The only thing that I can see impeding the students' ability to learn this theme is the references that Owens uses.  Many of these references will eventually date themselves.  This will only make it more difficult for younger individuals to understand the points made by including these references. 

Overall, I thought that this was an absolutely adorable book.  It is a story that will help students to learn about and consider honesty and lies in their lives.