What's Christian Reading? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

Christian is an avid 4th grade reader. These posts are all about what he's reading. These are by no means actual reviews, just his comments on whatever book he's reading at the time.

He does rate each book. He's decided to use what he calls flaming monkey heads as his unit of measure on a scale of 1 to 5. Why he chose that I'll never know. He's his father's son, I suppose.

Well here's something strange. Christian has been reading a book that I've never heard of. It's called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, and it's by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote Millions and Cosmic. The whole premise of this book is rather bizarre, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Let's see what Christian thought of it.

Here's what Christian says the book is about.

"It is about a boy and his family. The dad gets fired from his job, and his company car is taken away. The mom goes and buys an old camper van that the rest of the family calls a pile of junk, except for the father who wants to fix it up. 

"He manages to get it running and drives it to a place where he might find spark plugs. They find a camper van in a tree with good spark plugs. They also find a large race car engine with a plaque on it with the name Zborowski. 

"They install the engine in the camper van. They had to lift up the floor boards to get it in. They find out that the engine has wings built in to it so it can fly. They fly to Paris, France and land on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.

"After a day of touring the city, they find a pair of headlights acting as spotlights on the top of the tower labeled with the name of Zborowski. They install them in the camper van. The van takes them on a trip to various other locations. Along the way they find other parts labeled Zborowski. Eventually, they discover where the parts are really from."

Here's what Christian liked best about the book.

"I liked how the parts were hidden in all different places around the world. I thought it was pretty crafty."

Was there anything he didn't like about the book?

"I liked it all."

So, how does Christian rate Chitty Chitty Bang Bank Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce?

He gives it five out of five flaming monkey heads.