How I Saved the World in a Week

Polly Ho-Yen's How I Saved the World in a Week is a tense, thoughtful adventure for 9 year olds about a boy whose mum has been training him for the end of the world.

What happens

Billy calls his mum Sylvia. She prefers it that way. On the last day of term before Christmas she pulls him out of class, marches him onto a train and takes him into the woods to make fire with a firebow.

Sylvia has Rules. Always be prepared. Pay attention to everything around you. Trust no one. She has an old survival book with her own name written in it from when she was his age, and she tests Billy on it all the time.

For Christmas he gets gloves, a tin cup and a pair of signalling mirrors.

Then Sylvia starts going out every night with boxes of papers stamped CONFIDENTIAL. She used to be a scientist. Billy hasn't seen his dad for over two years, and she won't say why. What is she getting ready for?

Later on, Billy ends up living with his dad, who's almost a stranger to him. A mysterious illness starts turning people's skin grey, and he has to get out of the city using everything Sylvia taught him.

What makes it so good is Billy's voice. He keeps almost everything on the inside. He loves his mum and he loves their adventures, but he also just wants to go to school like everyone else. The bit where he eats takeaway pizza at a friend's house, for the first time in his life, is heartbreaking in a quiet way.

This one goes to some heavy places, so it's best to know before your reader starts. Sylvia keeps Billy off school for weeks and leaves him alone in the flat overnight. At one point she takes an axe to a tree in a busy park until someone calls the police. Billy never says it outright, but it's clear his mum isn't well.

For a child whose own parent struggles, that might feel very close to home. For a reader who likes a proper page-turner with real feelings in it, it's gripping, and Billy's love for his mum is there on every page.

What to read next

If they want more of Polly Ho-Yen's quietly spooky writing, try Boy in the Tower. Ade watches strange things take over his city from his high window, and his mum isn't always well either.