The Books

Philip is 12 years old and life is pretty good. He gets on with his mum and gets by pretty well at school - in spite of girl problems, teacher problems, bully problems and - er - poetry problems. Philip's happy-go-lucky life is disrupted when his mother gets breast cancer. Bad enough that your mother is seriously ill - but could she not have developed a less embarrassing kind of cancer - toe cancer, maybe, or ear cancer? Philip's attempt to cope with his situation are both hilarious and touching. Through it all, he's writing letters to his hero, the comedian Harry Hill, looking for advice. Harry Hill remains stonily silent, and Philip has to get by without his advice. In the end, though, Harry Hill comes up trumps, Philip gets to do a comedy routine with him, and Philip's mum and her cancer-mates get to have a good time too.