The Day My Bum Went Psycho

The Day My Bum Went Psycho is an adolescent novel by Australian children's author, Andy Griffiths. The book is quite a ridiculous story about a boy named Zack Freeman who has to seek the help of some "bum-hunters" to catch his bum after he learns it is actually the leader of a band of rogue bums determined to control the world. Even in this short description of the book you can see that it is not to be taken seriously in the least, it is a title purely for humour and enjoyment.

The structure of the story is in a traditional narrative form with orientations to the story and the characters, followed by complications which are resolved. There is also a climax towards the end of the book where the story hits a peak and is then finally resolved (well until the next book that it).

The language used fits perfectly for the age group it is aiming for. Andy Griffiths states that this is his aim, to write book that are fun for children and he does so perfectly. It is his understanding of younger children, and what they enjoy which sets his books a part from other authors.

It is illustrated by Nicole Arroyo, who also illustrated some of Andy Griffiths' other books, including the Just! series. These illustrations are very complimentary to the book and add something extra to the story, almost a second story in themselves. They are fun and are a good way to keep students who may not overly like reading engaged in the story line. The idea behind them is to make the drawings basic but fun and full of humor.  

Younger readers in middle to upper primary would be suited for reading this book. Although, it could be considered extremely immature, this may put off some readers due to the absurd nature of the story and the simplistic toilet humored writing style. I believe that this book would be great for engaging students who don’t like reading, possibly think that it is lame, and show them that it can actually be quite funny and actually fun.