Tag: Worst Week Ever!

Justin Chase’s mortification began on Miserable Monday, when Nan’s crocheted swimmers were part of the chain reaction that resulted in … Traumatic Tuesday, where Justin (now more widely known as Pool Boy, viral video star), tried to save face at school. Unfortunately for Justin, his face didn’t cooperate, as evidenced by his disastrous school photo. Justin was stranded with his arch-nemesis, Marvin, on Wacky Wednesday. There were robot sharks!

Now it’s Thursday. And it’s time to Wake Up!

The viral video is a gift that keeps on giving. We catch up with Justin as one of his most embarrassing moments attracts worldwide attention (again!), this time as a result of his appearance on a breakfast TV show. Never mind the fact that he looks like he belongs in the circus.

Everything is fine. Nothing to worry about.

And it’s absolutely fine that champion swearer Nan is in arm’s reach of her photo album. It’s not as though she’d ever share humiliating photos of her grandson with a worldwide audience…

The most interactive day yet, Thursday invites you to colour by number, show off your artistic talent and solve some a-mazing puzzles. There’s leaping in and out of cakes, an abundance of cats and the obligatory wardrobe malfunction. Thursday has some fartastic moments and more evidence that this is not the series for readers with emetophobia.

Thursday’s deleted scenes feature such cuties as turtles, polar bear cubs, baby sloths and fluffy birds. My current favourite is the hatted axolotl.

Kid me would have been busy perfecting the secret handshake. Adult me waited as long as they could for the library to purchase this book but couldn’t let any more Thursdays pass without knowing what thorny situations Justin would be facing.

I definitely need a Mia spin-off, if only to see more of her drawings.

How much humiliation can one boy take? The schadenfreude continued unabated on Thunderstruck Thursday and Justin has three more red faced days to go.

Bring on Fraught Friday!

Once Upon a Blurb

Have you ever had a bad week? Justin Chase sure has and this is it! Monday was mortifying, Tuesday was tumultuous, Wednesday was wild, but now it’s … Thursday! 

Justin’s utterly unwanted celebrity status sees his most embarrassing moments being beamed around the globe! But it’s a case of mistaken identity, creating a kidnapping kerfuffle, that will truly test our hapless hero to his limits.

After starting his Monday at the ungodly time of 5am, Justin Chase gets a bit of a sleep in today. He needed it, though, what with everything he endured yesterday. Not that he was sleeping in a comfy bed or anything. 

His missing cat, presumably abducted by aliens (although between you and I, it wouldn’t surprise me if Captain Fluffykins turns out to be the alien), appeared on the TV screen at midnight. While the TV was unplugged, mind you. Naturally, Justin fainted at this point, which is why he’s woken up on the floor.

Perhaps he should have stayed asleep because the Code Brown incident from yesterday, which should never be spoken of again, has gone viral. 

But the show must go on and today’s school photo day!

Justin is keen to break his unintentional school photo tradition. It’s not too much to ask to have one school photo where your eyes are open, is it?

Today’s also the day of the Super Science Spectacular.

‘WHO’S READY TO BE SCIENCED?’ 

Tuesday was just as much fun to read about as Monday, with the events of Monday creating a domino effect that I expect to compound as the week progresses. While bodily functions weren’t focused on quite as much, scenes of kid friendly body horror added to the humour. I’m not ashamed to say that I experienced schadenfreude while watching Justin unwittingly wander from one excruciatingly embarrassing moment to the next.

I need to spend some time in the Wally Valley Public School Library, where you should be on the look out for a sneaky cameo of Macca the Alpaca and Dharma the Llama. There’s even a book vending machine.

The illustrations remain engaging and funny. I was hoping for as many deleted scenes as there were in the first book but only encountered one; it did feature adorable piglets, though, so all is forgiven.

Mia’s drawings are still brilliant. Is it creepy if I tell you her zombie unicorn is to die for?

Justin’s Nan, who I flagged as my potential series favourite in the first book, didn’t have much to do in this one. I’m still holding out hope that she’ll claim her prize before the end of the week, although Mia is definitely a contender.

Justin has now survived Miserable Monday and Traumatic Tuesday. It’s a good thing he wore his lucky undies to school today or who knows what might have happened?!

What’s in store for Wacky Wednesday? I can only imagine. The only thing I know for sure is it won’t be boring.

Once Upon a Blurb

Have YOU ever had a BAD WEEK?

Justin Chase sure has, and THIS is it!

He barely made it through MONDAY, but now it’s … TUESDAY!

His cat is still missing, probably abducted by aliens. His dad is more embarrassing than ever. He’s unexpectedly gone viral online in the worst possible way. And when school photo day collides with the Super Science Spectacular, it’s destined to blow up into a hair-raising, teeth-shattering disaster of epic proportions!

Justin Chase is about to have a really bad week, starting at 5am. Who wants to be awake that early on a Monday? Not Justin, that’s for sure. Yesterday was a big enough day; his mother did marry a vampire after all.

Today is shaping up to be even more hectic. 

His mother and her new (possibly undead) husband are dropping Justin off at his father’s house on their way to their honeymoon. Justin’s father is on a new health kick (we’ll see how long that lasts) and is now only eating green things. That’s bad news for Justin, who can’t find any other colours in the fridge. His Nan lives with his father and you’re going to love her: she swears, crochets and drinks tea.

Justin’s cat, who is essentially a ball of furry attitude (cattitude?) is newly missing, presumably abducted by aliens. 

That kind of far-fetched, OUTLANDISH thing only really happens in PREPOSTEROUS kids’ books. 

You know, like this one.

And if that’s not enough, Justin’s being chauffeured to Day 1 of his brand new school in style. Sort of. His father drives an oversized toilet. 

’What the actual WHAT?!’ 

Besides scoring detention on his first day and having to endure Maths Monday, Justin also meets his archnemesis and makes a name for himself at school.

Kids who aren’t particularly squeamish (those with emetophobia may want to avoid this one) will love this book. Naturally, because this series was written during lockdown, toilet paper plays a fairly significant role (roll?) in this book. There are cringeworthy embarrassing moments, toilet humour and the promise of even more terrible and terribly funny things to come. Justin will be here all week!

The writing is fun but it’s the illustrations that really bring the horror story that is Justin’s Monday to life. 

I loved the pages that the censors decided were too graphic to be seen, especially the one featuring the guinea pigs. 

Be on the lookout for The Pluminator. 

I’m most looking forward to getting to know Justin’s next door neighbour, Mia, whose own illustrations are not to be missed. I’m ready to call my favourite character of the series: Nan. She hasn’t had much page time yet but she’s got so much potential.

I’m keen to continue this series. Tuesday is school photo day and plenty can go wrong there, the kind of wrong that could easily haunt Justin into his adult life. It’s also the day of the Super Science Spectacular so I’m expecting some impressive explosive moments.

Once Upon a Blurb

Have you ever had a bad week? Justin Chase sure has, and this is it!

His mum has just married a vampire. His dad is driving a giant toilet on wheels. His cat has probably been abducted by aliens. A psychotic bully is making his first day at a new school miserable. And right now, he’s hanging off the edge of a ten-metre-high diving tower in front of his entire class, wearing nothing but rapidly disappearing crocheted swimmers.

And it’s only Monday!