Review: What I Did by Christopher Walking

What I Did by Christopher Walking

Publisher: William Morrow 

Pages: 288 

Format: book 

Buy the Book: Amazon  

Goodreads:  Six-year-old Billy loves animals, David Attenborough documentaries, and sneakers that flash when he runs. He does not love sitting still, the blood-soaked sky in "Watership Down," or his father's cell phone.

When Billy runs into a busy street, ignoring his father's commands, he sets in motion a series of unexpected, family-altering events.


Kritters Thoughts:  A book narrated by a six year old that took a few pages for me to get into the way he was sharing the story.  He starts his story running into the street and being reprimanded by his father in front of a stranger and the story kind of goes down hill from there.  

I think the voice of the story coming from a six-year-old made the story very different because at times I wasn't sure if what he was telling me was the full story and the truth or what he imagined it to be.  I also wasn't quite sure during most of the story if his father was truly abusing him or it was many mishaps unfortunately occurring in their home.

The hardest part I had after getting comfortable with his narration was his messing up jargon and not American jargon, but the British terms and lingo that I am not familiar with at all.  There were a few times I had to look up what he was saying incorrectly to eventually find out what he really meant!

A book that mimics the story of Room by Emma Donoghue by having a child narrator, but is quite different in the plot of the story.  I think if I had known a little more of the sayings that he was mixing up I would have enjoyed it a little more.  I felt a little out of the loop for parts of the story.
Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.