The Exploding Life of Scarlett Fife by Maz Evans

Scarlett Fife has BIG FEELINGS. And when she has BIG FEELINGS, they explode out of her like an over-squeezed stress ball.

Scarlett’s in big trouble after a BIG FEELINGS episode leads to a runaway hamster getting into the vicar’s trousers at her aunty’s engagement party. If she loses her temper ONE MORE TIME, she’s going to miss out on her trip to Mega Awesome Sicky Fun World, the best theme park on the planet.

But feelings are like slime in a party bag. No matter how much someone tells you to keep it in, it’ll always find its way out. And very soon, Scarlett notices that every time she pushes her feelings down, something explodes. Like … really, properly explodes.

It might be her teacher’s slimy green smoothie. A huge pot of purple paint. Or a massive pile of elephant poo at the zoo. And let’s hope Scarlett doesn’t get mad at Aunty’s wedding – that wedding cake is HUGE …  

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What a fantastic, hilarious read. Scarlett is forthright, strong willed and well meaning - not always the best combination, as you'll find in these pages.

Scarlett is a modern day Matilda, using her own feelings of anger and disappointment to affect things. The difference is, Scarlett has no control. And she mostly blows things up instead of moving them harmlessly around.

But, like Matilda, Scarlett's feelings are very well deserved; with a bullying schoolmate enabled by his mother and her own mother accidentally forgetting her all the time, there's plenty to be upset at. I'm more or less on Scarlett's side here; her mother was working hard, yes, but she didn't attempt to explain or even really apologise to Scarlett for the various disappointments she suffered during the book.

I love the overall message, which is that talking things out is much better than keeping them bottled up inside. This is true even for those of us who can't blow things up (much as we might want to, sometimes.) and it's a great message for kids to read. Plus it's just really funny.

A fantastic read. Eleventy nine points.

The Exploding Life of Scarlet Fife publishes on the 13th of May, 2021. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.