Don't follow Vee by Oliver Phommanvanh
Puffin, 2019. ISBN: 9780143505747.
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Themes: Humour.
Vee has always gone along with her mother's snapping a picture each
morning to put on her Instagram account 'The Chronicles of Vee' - an
account her Mum started when she was a baby, and Vee always says yes
when Mum asks her if it is OK to continue, but this year is
different. Vee is in high school, and Mum has begun accepting things
from businesses to have Vee wear at school and show online. She has
also started trying to jazz up Vee's life and show baby pictures,
something Vee hates. She tries being anti-Vee, doing things that Mum
would hate to try and turn the account upside down, but she gains
more followers. Mum is aiming for 150,000 followers so what can Vee
do to stop it all. So she turns the table on her mother, snapping
her one morning before she wakes. She encourages her mother to get
out more, join a singing group and meet new friends.
This is an excellent middle-primary book about the Internet,
friendship, and family. Phommanvanh's humour is a treat, easy to
read and laugh out loud at the antics of Vee as she tries to subvert
her mother's interference in her life.
Along the way are some neat sideswipes at the power of the mobile
phone, as children cannot wait to see the number of likes, or what
the next instalment of Vee's life is about or how many burgers her
friend has eaten, or what Mum is doing to get her daughter noticed.
The underlining imperative of 'get a life' appealed to me and will
touch those who read the book and may find that reading it better
than looking at a screen!
And I loved Vee, trying hard not to upset her mum who has brought
her up alone but equally aware that she needs to focus on something
else, and make a life for herself.
Fran Knight