I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
I picked up the audiobook and was surprised at the length, and I also went into it not knowing anything about it.

The beginning was quite slow and I couldn't really see where things were going, but then after Billy went to his Dad's it really picked up and did so again once the main crux of the story (the greys) got into it.

I thought this was done really well - it handled Billy's mum's paranoia, the strained relationship between Billy and his Dad and new step family. The new friendships. It's all just done so well and it feels like a really good foray into dystopia for kids. It was exactly what I needed right now.

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my thoughts or opinions**

This is a book which improved with each chapter. The character relationships and plot development were well-paced and gained interest as the story went on. I really loved the deeper message behind this one, to trust the ones you love. The friendships formed throughout weren't my favourite, but were definitely needed for plot.

Where this lost me a bit was the ending. It wrapped up very suddenly and the ramifications of what happened wasn't really explored. For a middle grade, this was quite scary. I would recommend this to year 6/7 students (12-14 years old) simply for the content.

Absolutely stonking book by Polly Ho-Yen who in my mind writes 'John Wyndham for kids' in that her sci-fi always twists one element of the world then explores what would happen rather than introducing a whole host of improbable elements at the same time. This book features a zombi-fying virus but manages to be both genuinely scary but not actually horrific or gory which is a difficult thing to pull off. My readers at school are going to love this- especially as some of the action is based in our City!

What a stunning book. Polly Ho-Yen is one of the best children’s authors writing today and this is my favourite of her books. Perfect for children who are looking for something exciting and unpredictable. I adored it.

Thanks @simonkids_UK for sending me How I Saved the World in a Week by @bookhorse (out next week). I raced through it last night with either an intense feeling of dread or my heart in my mouth for approx. 75% of the book! Gripping & thrilling end-of-days #UKMG! https://t.co/W74yYaMGTu

Books for children with the end of the world theme can go in many ways. This chooses a reasonably unique path to tread. I found the first half of the book more to my taste. It was emotional and heart-rending, and it was hard not to feel for the lead protagonist.
Billy has a difficult upbringing. We have a mother who has drilled the severest form of preparedness into him. This has even led to him not having any social life apart from getting ready for the end of the world as they know it. This is the beginning of the story. When his mother's actions put her away for a while, he is sent to live with his father.
I feel a lot of discrepancy in the story's tone by the time we get to this point. I understand that children probably absorb things differently, but I felt a little cheated. We are led to believe in a certain angle to look at the troubled mother-son relationship and Billy and his mother as individuals. After this point, the end of the world arrives, and the way things wrap up seemed to take a whole other route!
I must admit that a certain logic was incorporated to link the beginning part of the story to the final reveal, but I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped. It is still an interesting book with colourful and different characters with a wide range of behaviours. I would recommend it for children who like an adventure mixed into family life with the world's future riding on our protagonist's actions.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Wow. Polly Ho-Yen has done it again. I genuinely could not put 'How I Saved the World in a Week' down and it was a wrench to tear myself away when I had to go out before I had finished it; it is a real page-turner!
Billy lives in London with Sylvia, his mum, and they live by the 5 rules of survival: Always be prepared; Pay attention; Trust no one; Master your fears; Never stop trying. She has always taught Billy survival skills, except now it has become an obsession. She is constantly pulling him out of school to teach him new skills and soon it gets out of hand. When one of her lessons quickly gets out of control, Billy must move to Bristol to live with Steve, his dad, whilst Sylvia recovers in hospital. Live with Steve is very different and he does not approve of Billy learning or even talking about survival skills. However, when Billy starts to notice strange things happening to people around the city, he knows he must be prepared in order to survive. Will Steve take Billy's concerns about the strange sickness sweeping through the city seriously? And will Billy's survival skills be enough to keep himself and his family safe?
This is an excellent book about courage, family and friendship. Even though it includes zombie-like creatures, there are so many relatable elements in the story in terms of the family dynamics and character relationships and, as usual, Polly Ho-Yen deals with trickier themes, such as mental health, sensitively. 'How I Saved the World in a Week' is pitched perfectly for middle-grade and I will be recommending it to all my Year 5 and 6 pupils.

Billy’s mum is obsessed with teaching him survival skills. She believes he will need them in the future but doesn’t say why. As her behaviour becomes more and more bizarre, Billy is worried about missing school and not being able to see his dad. When disaster strikes, Billy is forced to go and live with his dad, who gets annoyed every time he mentions survival.

When a mysterious virus hits the country and the family are forced to flee for their lives, Billy’s survival skills are what will keep them alive.

I loved the first half of the book. I enjoyed reading about Billy’s relationship with his mum and her struggle with her mental health. I liked the relationship between Billy and his friend Anwar and his dad’s girlfriend and daughter. However, once the virus hit, the story became less believable.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is brilliant! Billy's mum isn't like other parents and prioritises teaching Billy survival skills over things like going to school. One day, when one of her lessons gets out of hand, Billy has to go and live with his dad, who he hardly even knows. As of this wasn't bad enough for Billy, a strange virus seems to be turning people's skin grey and causing them to behave very oddly. Billy finds it hard to get people to believe him but is determined to get back to his mum, who seems to have been preparing for this all along. Polly Ho-Yen is such a brilliant author and this book doesn't disappoint.

I was absolutely gripped by The Boy in the Tower last year, it was one of my most memorable lockdown reads so I was eagerly anticipating How I Saved the World in a Week.

Polly Ho-Yen has delivered another dystopian thriller of apocalyptic proportions! Think 28 Days Later with a hint of Walking Dead for Middle Grade with themes of friendship, family & mental health throughout.

Billy’s mum isn’t like other mums. All she wants is to teach him the Rules of Survival – how to make fire, build shelter and find food. She likes to test Billy on the rules until one day she goes too far, and Billy is sent to live with a dad he barely knows.

Then the world changes forever as people begin to be infected with a mysterious virus that turns their skin grey. As chaos breaks out, Billy has to flee the city. Suddenly he realises that this is what his mum was preparing him for – not just to save his family, but to save the whole world.

Oh my word! This is as good as The Boy in The Tower if not better! In Part One of the plot we see the sharp decline of Sylvia (Billy’s mum’s) mental health. Preoccupied with survival, former scientist Sylvia begins to obsessively stockpile supplies in a Martello Tower on the Kent Coast. Leaving Billy alone in their flat she drives to the Tower night after night to make ‘preparations’ although for what no-one knows. Sketchy drawings of grey, terrifying figures are plastered on every surface of the inside walls of the dark, dank tower and two sleeping bags lay on the floor of a cell-like room.

Sylvia repeatedly pulls Billy out of school unexpectedly and furiously drills him on ‘How to Survive.’ The two of them spend the days when Billy should be in school building shelters and fires until one day, there are disastrous consequences. Social services place Billy with his estranged dad Steve where he struggles to settle. As if trying to live with a dad he barely knows wasn’t enough, Billy has Steve’s girlfriend Julie and her daughter Angharad to contend with. Luckily, he finds solace in classmate Anwar and the two of them become firm friends.

Part Two is where it all kicks off big time! Like in any good zombie apocalypse film there are subtle hints to begin with to what’s coming but all too soon, the world as Billy knows it is being overtaken by ‘Greys,’ infected humans that live on in a zombie-like state, searching for more bodies to feed on.

Billy, Steve, Julie and Angharad are amongst the mass exodus as thousands flee the city in sheer panic. Miles and miles of queuing traffic and then eerie streets with abandoned cars for me was reminiscent of scenes in I am Legend and Stephen King’s The Stand.

Prepare for utterly heart-pounding, nail-biting tension as the family try to escape the zombie-like greys waiting for their next feast. My heart was in my mouth on more than one occasion as it looks like there is no escaping their fate – think dead-ends… alleyways…deserted office blocks… Imagine being in the middle of nowhere, you’ve walked mile after mile, supplies running out, too scared to close your eyes…too scared to open them…

There’s gut-wrenchingly emotional moments when loved-ones are separated and goodbyes are said. This is an epic quest of survival, will Billy make it out alive? And what kind of world will greet them on the other side (if there is one)

This is binge-reading at it’s best, once you start you will not be able to put it down. I read some scenes literally holding my breath it’s that eerie. An absolute must read!

I love Polly Ho Yen’s books so was thrilled to hear of her latest title and even more excited to be given the opportunity to read it ahead of its publication.

Billy’s mum, Sylvia Weywood, is a bit different to other people’s mums which is why he finds himself pulled out of school on the last day of term before the Christmas holiday’s and standing in a wood learning survival skills as opposed to enjoying party games with his classmates. Sylvia has become increasingly obsessed with teaching Billy a strict set of rules, not just any rules…rules for survival; Be prepared; Pay attention; Trust no one; Master your fears; Never stop trying. But when one of Sylvia’s survival lessons goes wrong, Billy finds himself sent away to live with a dad who he barely knows while his mum is sent to a psychiatric hospital to ‘get better’.

Alone, confused and desperate for answers, Billy has no idea what his mum has been preparing him for but when a mysterious virus begins sweeping through the city that turns people into zombie-like creatures, aka ‘Greys', Billy must call on all his survival skills to keep his family safe…

Polly Ho Yen’s latest read is a gripping and well-imagined science-fiction narrative that kept me on tenterhooks throughout. Given the current global pandemic, the whole deadly virus scenario feels all rather familiar, although thankfully I haven’t seen too many zombie-like creatures walking down the street. And rather than adults being left to defeat the virus, Ho Yen has given us a child survivalist who is more than ready to take on the world.

This is a slow burn that gradually draws the reader in before wrapping its clutches around them and never letting go - much like the ‘Greys’ do to their victims. Ho Yen initially has readers trying to work out what the mysterious and erratic Sylvia is up to, where she disappears to in the middle of the night and what exactly Billy is being prepared for. When the answer dramatically reveals itself a tension-filled race against time ensues. Will Billy and his family evade the Greys? Will the adults believe Billy? Will Billy make it back to Sylvia? From the moment the ‘Greys' are introduced, the story becomes filled with trepidation, fear and lots of heart in the mouth moments. Readers can expect plenty of close calls and near misses with the infected as the action stays just the ride side of out and out horror - it is more thrilling escapes and edge of the seat suspense as opposed to zombie-gore fest.

The small number of characters are all brilliant and I love the real-world issues that they are dealing with. Ho Yen touches on mental health, parents separating, loneliness and the challenges of new family dynamics. Main protagonist Billy is a quite a complicated character who is dealing with plenty. He is trying to survive the virus, trying to survive his new family that sees him with his dad, his dad’s girlfriend Julie and Julie’s daughter Angharad, and desperately trying to get back to his mum. In order to survive everything he has to learn to trust, shows great resilience and of course, put into action the survival skills that Sylvia has taught him. By the end, the determined Billy has really come-of-age and after surviving the zombie apocalypse, he is more than ready to face any challenge that life throws at him.

How I Saved the World In a Week is a thoroughly engrossing read that is the perfect blend of family, friendship, survival and the importance of always being prepared. Making of a survival kit is optional but strongly advised.

Recommended for 9+.

With huge thanks to Polly Ho Yen and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy that I received via NetGalley.

This book gripped me. The first few chapters drew me in with their theme of mental health and how this can have such an impact on the people around you. But then the story evolved further with the introduction of the virus affecting society and the grey skinned people and the pace of the story really picked up.
This story is so much more than one about a virus though. It is about family and friendship, about the struggles people have within their own family and how to support your loved ones. Billy’s mum’s behaviour really struck a cord with me and, although there wasn’t too much detail about what happened to her as the story focussed on Billy, without giving too much away I liked how it was finished.
As I read the book, I also enjoyed reading about the survival skills Billy was taught and would imagine it would prompt children to try some of these things out for themselves.
I will definitely be recommending this book to the children in my class - we are currently reading The Boy in the Tower - as I’m sure many of them would enjoy this type of fast-paced adventure story.

How I saved the world in a week was a great middle grade book that was unique and had eerie undertones.

The characters felt realistic and the theme of loss and family was greatly executed. The writing complemented the slightly scary plot making it feel quite real! I found it to be a very unique and memorable read!

Overall I enjoyed this book and I would definitely read more from this author! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the E-arc! All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Polly's book The Boy in the Tower, and this new book definitely has the same feel. I would disagree with the marketing's age recommendation - I think this is more 11 plus because of the content. It borders on horror (zombies/deadly virus/end of the world) which some children might have nightmares about. I assume Polly wrote this before the pandemic began (based on how long the whole production/publishing side goes on for), so it is very timely, but would children fear that this is what could possibly happen if infected with the virus? There again, many games have had this as its subject matter for years, and it's not put kids off! I enjoyed the story, but was slightly annoyed with the father character. He came across as very weak and was at times so dismissive of his son's feelings. I loved the friendship between all the children, and the survival skills information was brilliant! We should all have one of those booklets!

Brave and utterly gripping, this is an edge-of-your-seat tale of survival that will delight fans of The Boy in the Tower, Orphans of the Tide and Crater Lake. Filled with all of the chills and thrills that you’d expect of Polly Ho-Yen’s dystopian middle-grade stories, the story is also served with a generous helping of emotional poignancy that explores themes of family bonds, mental health, learning to trust and never giving up on those you love.

Sylvia has always taught her son Billy the basic rules of survival; always be prepared, pay attention, trust no-one, master your fears and never stop trying. Sylvia loves taking Billy on outdoor adventures and ensuring that he is as ready as possible for surviving whatever may come their way. But Billy knows that his mum’s behaviour is different from other parents. Her actions become increasingly erratic and she soon removes Billy from school altogether to prioritise survival lessons. After a crisis weekend when one of their survival lessons goes awry, Sylvia is admitted to hospital for mental health help, and Billy is sent away to live with his Dad in Bristol. Billy knows more than anything how much Sylvia loves him, but now he feels alone, confused, and cross with the grown-ups who do not seem to think that Sylvia is able to look after him well. Among the strangeness of living in a new place, Billy notices other unexpected things starting to happen. Before long, a mysterious virus seems to take hold in the local area, turning people into zombie-like creatures called ‘Greys’. Suddenly, the world appears to change in the blink of an eye, and Billy and his new family embark on a race against time where his survival instincts will be more important than ever.

Like the very best dystopias, Polly Ho-Yen’s sci-fi worlds always feel just the smallest step away from our own and after the past year, reading a virus-themed story feels both daunting and relatable. The fast-paced virus escape scenes are quite frightening in places, but the zombie-esque appearances of the victims helps to maintain a fictional edge that stops the tale becoming too close to home. There’s a well-crafted mirroring between the physical virus taking hold of the community and the mental health crisis that has been gaining a grip on Sylvia’s mind over a number of years. Billy’s character development in the story is beautiful, and by the end of the narrative he has formed a good set of real-world survival skills of his own that will help him to navigate the ups and downs of growing up and making trusting relationships with others.

This is an exciting thriller that packs an emotional punch and leaves you rooting for the main character. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but is sure to thrill mature readers in KS2 who love a page-turning plot with a rollercoaster of emotions and a few truly nail-biting scenes to get stuck into.

This is my first experience of a novel by Polly Yo Hen and I was not disappointed at all.
This tells the story of Billy. He has grown up quite isolated and told not to trust anyone. His mum Sylvia has been preparing him for survival.
Billy ends up living with his dad and comes across some strange events, through which the survival skills he's learned are needed more than ever.
A great and slightly spooky story of friendship and letting others in. A great read.

My class are going to LOVE this book. Eerie, unpredictable and a little bit gruesome, How I Saved the World in a Week has all the ingredients to become a firm favourite and would be a great addition to any child’s bookshelf.

Billy has grown up being told never to trust anyone and to always be prepared. After a survival lesson goes too far, he is separated from his mum and sent to live with his dad, who he barely knows. When a mysterious virus strikes, Billy must put his survival skills into practice in order to save everyone he loves.

I really enjoyed How I Saved the World in a Week and raced through it in one sitting - I was dying to find out what happened next as I found it totally unpredictable. It’s a fast-paced, lively read with a lovable cast of characters and a whole lot of heart. It’s a great addition to the horror/dystopian genre and would be perfect for fans of Jennifer Killick’s Crater Lake. I will definitely be reading this to be my class upon its release. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.