Its 1998 and Mike has just started high school. However when his Mum is diagnosed with cancer things take a traumatic turn.

If you have watched Matt Okine’s TV show ‘The Other Guy’, you’ll get his humour and will love this book. It’s funny, sad and moving all wrapped up with some typical teenage boy cringeworthy humour.

I found this one really interesting, I am coming from a children's and YA background, and I wanted to see where this book might fit in a High School library, as the protagonist is a 12 year old boy.

This book is published as, and marketed, as an Adult title, but to me it read like a YA. The only thing that will jump it up the age bracket for me, is the language (swearing), and maybe Mike's preoccupation with his penis :)

It's a coming of age story, a story of first love, schoolyard bullies and a story of the most heartbreaking loss you can imagine at 12. It has a good blend of humour throughout the story though, and that helps to take the edge of the tragedy that is unfolding for Mike.

The loss of his mother, and the confusion and questions surrounding growing up were honest and believable, if sometimes uncomfortable to read...but that's life, sometimes uncomfortable, especially if you are a 12 year old boy I would imagine.

The 90s setting was fun to revisit, for someone who lived through it, and I don't think it will jar with any readers who may not even remember a corded telephone!

As someone who sells books to schools, I would have loved this to to be toned down slightly on the language front, and maybe a few less penis scenes....but that's just me being greedy, because I liked this book, and I would love for it to be a story for ages 11+, as well as adults and older teens.

Thanks to Hachette and Net Galley for the opportunity to review.

Set in 1998, we follow Mike as he begins his first year of high school whilst navigating his mum's advanced cancer diagnoses and the likely outcome of having to live with his dad full-time. It is loosely based on Okine's childhood and losing his own mother at age 12.

This is a narrative full of feeling and I can't deny that I was teary at various points throughout the book. It is such an engaging read; packed with every emotional state you remember experiencing at twelve. All of those emotions so vivid and relevant at that prepubescent age when you wholeheartedly believe you're the only one to have ever experienced such extreme swinging feelings. I highly enjoyed the style in which Okine wrote and felt affection for all the characters woven throughout.

This book took me back to my childhood and the first developed fiction that I fell deeply in love with, "Looking for Alibrandi". That book truly shaped me when I first read it at thirteen; it made me feel seen and understood. "Being Black 'n Chicken and Chips" has the same spark that Marchetta first gifted readers back in 1992 and in the same vein, Okine has offered something remarkably special to a new generation of young Australian readers. For the kids growing up who are experiencing loss, who are feeling insecure about themselves, who are navigating the schoolyard and all the complexities that come with it; this is a book that kids can cling to and can come away from feeling seen, understood and hopefully a little more accepting of themselves. It's important to see your environment reflected in society around you as you develop and I'm so glad Okine has offered young Aussie's a story set in their backyard.

This isn't necessarily a story for young readers (it can be enjoyed by all) but it is definitely one that will resonate with and be helpful for young kids beginning to navigate their lives.

Set in 1998 Being Black and Chicken and Chips is about a teenage boy, Mike Amon, who is dealing with the usual pre-adolescent concerns of growing up, trying to understand his body and how to deal with and express his feelings towards girls, or one girl in particular. However life becomes even more chaotic and then traumatic when his mother is diagnosed with breast and brain cancer.
While this is a sad story, it also has a lot of humour with a very down to earth, young adult slant that obviously involves embarrassing moments and male ego competition!
I found the writing style to relaxed with the story line moving quickly and smoothly. The characters were well developed and realistic.
While a coming of age book what should appeal to young adults I found it enjoyable so would recommend it for all ages.
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Hachette Australia for an ARC ebook to read and review.

This is a coming of age story about Mike, a pre-pubescent mixed-race boy, subject to all the usual traumas of impending adolescence. He is keen on Zoe and wants desperately to impress her by competing in an athletics event, but faces competition from bully-boy Skon.

In the midst of Mike's floundering attempts to impress, he is jerked back to earth by the news that his mother has been diagnosed with cancer. In many ways that causes him to go even more off the rails, but there is also a developing sense of underlying seriousness behind the false bravado of Mike and his friends.

There is a terrific story to be told here, not least because Okine went through this loss himself, but I just found it too clunky. I'm not a fan of humour where people are embarrassed and humiliated and whenever Okine reached for the humour in a situation, I just winced rather than laughed at the silly travails he put Mike through. I have read much better books about similar situations that manage to be both funny and serious, without being excruciating.