Polly Ho-Yen - How I Saved the World in a Week

Polly Ho-Yen's debut book, The Boy in The Tower, was an instant success. The middle-grade science fiction story about strange spores that affected concrete and led to the collapse of buildings was full of nail-biting jeopardy but plenty of heart too. Since then Polly has written several middle-grade novels, including where Monsters Lie and Fly me Home. as well as books for education series and a younger chapter book.

How I Saved the World in a Week is another  survivalist science fiction novel, with some similarities in tone and themes to The Boy in the Tower. Poly joined me In The Reading Corner to talk about the ideas behind the story.

About How I Saved the World in a Week.
Rule number one: Always be prepared . . .

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.

Support the show

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk