The Day the Screens Went Blank, by Danny Wallace {Kids Book Review} ⋆ An Ordinary Gal

Can you imagine how our kids would react if their phones, tablets, gaming devices….all of it, suddenly stopped working? Can you even imagine?: I’m bored! When will everything start working again? Mom, is Eskom going to fix this? The Day the Screens Went Blank would be a day that would go down in history as the day our kids officially keeled over from boredom! It wouldn’t be the worst thing though, they’d reach for a book, play some boardgames, play in the sun….I can think of a lot of benefits for this scenario 😉

What is The Day the Screens Went Blank about?

When ten-year-old Stella wakes up to discover a world full of BLANK screens, her family, town, and in fact the whole world seems to have been thrown into chaos. And what about poor Grandma who is stranded at the other end of the country?

Cue a rollicking madcap road trip, full of driving disasters and family fallouts, as they set off on a rescue mission. And along the way Stella and her family discover that being away from screens might not be the Worst Thing Ever, and even though they might not be able to rely on technology anymore, they can rely on each other instead.

Our Thoughts

Could you think of a more relevant book/topic in 2021? This book reminds me a little bit about The Mitchells vs The Machines….not quite the same, but kind of. You know…same same, but different?

I think that Stella is smart as a whip and such a fun character. She’s definitely the perfect protagonist for this book. The Day the Screens went Blank is a hilarious take on a very interesting and relevant topic in 2021. I think kids will be horrified at the prospect of of losing their technology, but I also think this will give them some insight into a world where we aren’t slaves to our devices.

Joshua really enjoyed this book. He said that he also learnt a cool trick from the book: if you look at an image for long, then shut your eyes tight, like a camera lens, you’ll store that image in your mind. He then proceeded to look at me, and took a mental picture and went: Now I’ll never forget what you look like. Awwwww…….

The Day the Screens Went Blank retails for around R205 and is available at all leading book retailers.

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*The Day the Screens Went Blank was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers in exchange for an honest review.