Every Second Friday

Written by Kiri Lightfoot

Illustrated by Ben Galbraith

Published by Hodder, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-340-95613-7

NZC activities for this picture book here.

Every second Friday Margi (6 and a half) and Totty (4 and three quarters) go to stay with their dad at his messy house. Their dad is a collector of “bits and bobs” and the reader gains an insight into an exciting, crazy world that the children enter when they stay with their dad. The detailed illustrations show Dad’s house teeming with ‘stuff’ and Margi, who narrates the story tells of how they need to pack extra clothes, because when they stay with Dad they always get “magnificently muddy, worryingly wet and mind-blowingly messy”! This story tells of the special relationship between father and child, even when they don’t live together all the time. The visual language in the book is clever – both the bright, busy  illustrations and the layout of text in unconventional ways help to support the idea of the mild chaos and fun times had by Margi, Totty and Dad when they get together.

Summary written by Marion McKoy

Book cover used with permission of publisher