The Day My School Got Famous

For ages 9+

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Reading ‘The Day My School Got Famous’, the second book in the ‘The Famous’ series, brightened up my gloomy Winter weekend! ‘The Day My Dog Got Famous’ (Puffin, 2024) was one of my bestselling Children’s middle-grade fiction books  of 2024  for kids aged 9+. Author:illustrator, Jen Carney has a funny, relatable, and down-to-earth style of writing which is accompanied by her brilliant comic strip illustrations - a winning formula for reluctant readers especially. Jen is also the creator of the much-loved ‘The Accidental Diary of B.U.G.’ series (Puffin, 2021-22) for younger readers from 7+. 

I’d been looking forward to ‘The Day My School Got Famous’ after enjoying the first book so much. Ferris and Destiny’s hilarious YouStream (aka YouTube) competition for who could get their dog to do the best tricks was unforgettable, especially as Ferris’s woofy best bud Aldo was rather too slow, large and parpy for the circus-style tricks Destiny’s little pooch could achieve. 

What I also love about this series is that Ferris Foster lives with his two mums and Keely, a younger foster child who has some special needs, utterly adored by Ferris. Ferris has been a brother to dozens of children of all ages who spend days, weeks or months living at his house, sometimes even temporarily attending his school with him too. Stories like these are vital to be made available to children to read via school/public libraries and bookshops!

Ferris’s new adventure is absolutely up there with the best of middle-grade contemporary fiction! What’s more real life relatable than a kid wanting to watch and get ideas from YouStream… I dunno, like, learning how to explode a soda bottle? Meet Nile Noble - the Foster family’s latest foster child. He’s Ferris’s age, and you’d think that’d be cool having a foster-brother in your own age, in your class, hanging out…. Unfortunately not, Ferris and Nile are kinda chalk and cheese. Ferris loves to quietly hang out indoors with his drawing kit with best friend Cal, whereas Nile is ‘Major Chaos’ filled with unrelenting energy, buzz and wanting to experiment with loud bangs, well check out Ferris’s comic strips about Nile for yourself! 

What Ferris doesn’t understand is that Nile’s life is truly chaos. Nile’s little brother Lewis is staying with a different Foster family, they’re too much to cope with together. Nile’s mum has obviously some problems with her mental/physical health, letting Nile down and neglecting him on many occasions. As a parent reading Nile’s story one can see the complexity, but for a young boy like Ferris it takes time to look past Nile’s behaviour to get to know the quirky and kind child beneath the trauma playing itself out.

So, why does the boys’ school get famous? A WW2 bomb is discovered by builders under the school car park and the kids are immediately sent home while the army are brought on site to conduct a safe explosion. It causes quite a buzz in the community, and Nile is absolutely obsessed, getting himself into a bit of trouble, ending up face to face with the Royal Engineers Captain - who himself it turns out was adopted and takes a bit of a shine to Nile and his cheeky forward enthusiasm! A great role model for Nile!

The school sets a design challenge to make a new building once the school grounds have been repaired and it’s up to the school children to come up with the ideas! PLUS the winner gets to press the RED button to blow up the WW2 bomb! Well… the stakes are high… will Ferris’s indoor play art room meet the brief? Or will he be able to see past his own needs to think more selflessly for the needs of all the school children, or the needs of his foster brother, Nile? 

By the end of the story, it’s clear that Ferris is a boy who constantly adapts to change, sharing his home and mums with new foster babies and children. He enjoys and takes pride in having so many brothers and sisters, sharing his happy and loving family with them all. 

Most children will never experience being a foster family or being a foster child. Having this giggly at the same time as serious style of illustrated fiction adventure series accessible for young readers (and teachers, parents, and carers) is absolutely brilliant! There is always a balance, elements of strong emotional relationship ups and downs, but there’s so much to laugh about too in shared experiences, especially when faithful doggy friend, Aldo is there for cuddles and therapy sessions, as long as you don’t mind his occasional escaped explosive gases… Plus, I love a happy ending… Ferris and Nile become forever friends, bros 4 life even though by the end of the story they’re living miles apart.

This series features ‘Makaton how-to’ illustrations throughout, as Ferris’s foster sister, Keely uses this sign-language to communicate. Their is also a learning resource for Makaton at the back of the book including how to sign your name

‘The Day My Brother Got Famous’ by Jen Carney (Puffin) publishes in February 2026. Looking forward to it already!

About the author:illustrator

Jen Carney is an author-illustrator who lives in Lancashire with her wife and three children. She writes contemporary laugh-out-loud middle-grade fiction that celebrates diversity and modern families.

Published: 6th February 2025

Format: Paperback