Blurb:
Billy Plonka - the Prince of Stink, the Monarch of Muck, the Sultan of Slime, the Duke of Dregs and the King of Kak. He's the most extraordinary maker of GROT in the entire world, and he's invited 5 individuals (Orson Ploop - An overweight kazoo playing protégé; Victoria Scabb - 259th in line to the English throne; Viola Mudguard - 11-year-old, ex-Wollywood star; Spike Peecee - A self-obsessed dweeb who can never disconnect from the Internet; and Marley Suckett - An anti-hero), to visit his world-famous Grot Laboratory, and step into an adventure they will never forget!
Your tour is about to start. Don't wander off . YOU! Yes, YOU! I'm talking to YOU! Mr. Plonka would hate to lose you along the way... READ IT!!! BILLY PLONKA AND THE GROT LABORATORY- the 100% unofficial official parody of one of the greatest children's stories of all time.
This modern re-telling of the Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' stays true to the wonderful wit of Dahl, but brings the tale into the modern age with a lovely twist at the end. Each character meets their grotty fate as they go on their tour of The Grot Laboratory - as the name suggests, a disgusting place full of scumpiddlinoxious fumes and materials. Words reminiscent of Dahl fill the pages - Whi-ffi (it's like wifi only smellier), whazzplop and picklescooper to name but a few.
Review:
Billy Plonka and the Grot Laboratory by Ian Billings is a parody of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Since it's a parody, it's almost similar to Roald Dahl's story. Just replace chocolate with Gunk and all things rotten and bad, and you have Billy Plonka's Grot laboratory. Although it's similar, the book still had its own elements which make you laugh and at times disgust you (well.! It's grot and gunk we are talking about.!)
I loved how the character of Marley and his grandfather was exactly the opposite of Charlie and his grandpa. He was a funny, naughty, and self-centered boy who would rather buy candy than get his grandparent a cough medicine.
Of course, you wouldn't want to teach your child that, but this was the purpose of the story. If you do bad, you get punished. In Charlie and the chocolate factory, Charlie was a nice, humble, and a good kid and he was rewarded for the same in the end. Marley, on the other hand, was a naughty and a bad kid, who would steal from people, and so he was rewarded with what he deserved in the end. So the lesson here was if you are bad and if you steal from other people, you will be punished by the universe.
Billy Plonka was a funny character within himself. How he enjoyed the curses people threw at him, thinking of them as compliments were again very funny.
It wasn't all that I imagined, but it was a different experience. I did like the parody and closely related to Charlie and the Chocolate factory it was, but it was a bit too grossier (If that's even a word) read for me. Of course, this book might not be for adults or even middle-grade, and I am not too sure if some parents would be comfortable reading this to their children as this has too many disgusting images. but of course, that's just my opinion. Many might takeaway only the humorous elements of the book and that might be a great bedtime story for those. But it's just not my cup of tea.