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My Friend Percy & Buffalo Bill by Ulf Stark

Title: My Friend Percy & Buffalo Bill

Author: Ulf Stark

Translator: Julia Marshall

Illustrator:

Publisher: Gecko Press

Date Published: 2008

Format: Paperback

Genre: Other

Book Category: Fiction

Age Range: 12+

Original Title: First published in Swedish as Min van Percy, Buffalo Bill och jag, Bonnier Carlsen Bokforlaget, Sweden, 2004

Country of Origin: Sweden

My Friend Percy & Buffalo Bill

by Ulf Stark
Age Range: 12+

Ulf and Percy return again in another adventure. When Ulf goes away for a long summer holiday on the archipelago where his grandparents live, Percy decides that he’s going to come as well and has to win over Ulf’s family, especially his grandfather. Grandfather isn’t the only person to take a strong liking to Percy. Ulf likes local girl Pia, but she likes Percy! Will the course of true love run smooth? Will Ulf and Percy let the girl come between them? Most importantly, Will Percy learn to swim?

Ulf Stark has written another wonderful story but has taken Percy and Ulf into a new setting and with a new cast of characters. This novel is also for a slightly older audience than the usual Percy reader. Ulf is a wonderful narrator and we really seem to have seen him grow up in this tale, as the relationship between Ulf and Percy starts to get a little deeper. The two have rows and prove that they can exist independently of each other whilst still being brilliant friends when they are together. Any child growing up will recognise this as perhaps mirroring the relationships they have with their own friends, which start to become more meaningful as you get older and seek out an identity on your own, as well as within a friendship. Stark seems to really have a knack for writing as a pre-teen and knows exactly what will be happening with this age group; all his stories seem to ring true and are pitched at exactly the right level of emotion mixed with still childish fun in places.

Whilst the pre-adolescent issues that Stark usually deals with are still central to the story, such as the love triangle with Pia, the novel is more serious than previous efforts. The plotline concerning Ulf’s grandparents, for example, looks at a loveless marriage and the way adult relationships function. Whilst this is balanced by lots of funny moments and the wonderful relationship between Ulf and Percy, the novel is perhaps a little more sombre in tone than the stories that precede it. This novel is also rather longer than the other books in this series, so overall it is a bit of a jump in reading level, but with Ulf and Percy as the wonderful, fun-loving and merry-making main characters, it still works the old Percy magic. Fans should love it, although some younger readers may struggle with the slightly more heavyweight subject matter and the almost doubling in length, as it is really aimed at the 12+ readership.

Abby Phillips (2011)

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