When ten-year-old Billy discovers a recipe for Brain Booster Juice hidden in a corner of the school field, he boosts his brain to the size of Venus and turns into a mastermind overnight. But being a super-genius is not quite so super as he thinks.
Featuring some fantastically gruesome characters, Billy’s Brain Booster Juice is the exciting debut novel from children’s author Becci Murray.
Meet some of the characters from Billy's world...
Let's start with the star of our book - Billy Radcliffe. Billy has a miserable life. His teachers sit him at the Wally Table, his classmates call him a thickie and he plays alone in a muddy corner of the school playground with his only friends - the worms. But one day Billy discovers a recipe for Brain Booster Juice and soon he's a super-genius with a brain the size of Venus. Time to think big, Billy, and teach those bullies a lesson they'll never forget.
Mrs Granger is Billy's class teacher. She's a whopping great bear of a woman (only hairier) in a pink floral dress, with a spare bit of chin-skin hanging down from her wrinkly old neck. Her breath stinks of coffee and she enjoys stapling children high up on the school display boards by the backs of their jumpers. Mrs Granger makes Billy's life an absolute misery and he's desperate to get his own back.
Onto Dana Aintree. Dana is a whining, pouting, hideously spiteful bully in Billy's class. She sits at the Vaguely Clever Table and likes nothing more than to splatter Billy with her sparkly lip-gloss when Mrs Granger's not looking. Her gaggle of tag-along friends buzz around her like wasps on a donut and cackle at her mean jokes about Billy. We really don't like Dana Aintree - and neither will you.
Colin Bradley is the only boy at school who's as picked-on as Billy. He's not very bright and he smells of fish, so the other children are horrible to him. Colin's dad is a fishmonger and helps Billy source some strange ingredients for the Brain Booster Juice (crab-eyes and pickled eels - yummy). Colin's favourite foods are mackerel, haddock, squid, prawns, tuna, jelly-fish, cod... You get the picture.
What can I tell you about Robert Williams? Well, for starters he's twice the size of Billy (in both directions) and stamps on his feet when they walk into class. He threatens to thump Billy on a daily basis and he's Dana Aintree's own personal bodyguard. Robert has no idea how it feels to have your insides turned into jelly, but thanks to the Brain Booster Juice, he soon will.
And lastly, who on earth is Auntie Brenda? We know she's the creator of the marvellous Brain Booster Juice recipe and the reason Billy has the most amazing adventure of his life, but is she really the sweet little old lady she appears to be? You'll have to read the book to find out!