Itch (ITCH, 1)

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Simon Mayo is an award-winning British radio broadcaster who has worked for BBC Radio since 1981. He currently is the presenter of "Drivetime" on radio 2, which features a book club, and is co-presenter of "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review" on BBC Radio 5 Live. He lives in London with his wife, two sons and one daughter. Itch is his first novel.

As for the chemistry included, it's well measured, clear and undeniably fascinating; from learning how the household objects you own relate to the periodic table, to explanations of explosive reactions, there is enough here to justify Itch as an informative text without ever suffocating the exciting plot. I recently wrote a piece arguing that the Pokémon games successfully communicate biological principles to their target audience, and I think it's fair to say that Itch does the same for Chemistry. Wow. Lets just take a moment to appreciate THAT cover! POW! Such an attractive design that will grab JF-YA readers of both genders. Their first question (and mine): What is an element hunter?Amid the teenage intrigue and heart-in-mouth escapades there are sequin flashes of real science: reminders that physical chemistry really does make things happen Tim Radford, Guardian It's worth noting that ITCH is clearly the result of a man driven by a passion for his story, rather than a desire to be published. It's a genuinely thrilling and original adventure, with added sciency geek-chic . . . a great read and certainly worthy of its ISBN Helen Mulley, Teach Primary Itch exhibits an amazing level of maturity and moral courage, instantly elevating his status from science geek to reluctant hero. Ever since he could remember, Itch had been a collector. He developed his collecting skills with Pokémon cards, coins, maps, marbles and frogs ( frogs?), but when this book begins, Itch has turned his attention to collecting the elements of the Periodic Table: Itchingham "Itch" Lofte didn't mean to burn off his eyebrows. He also didn't mean to send his whole science class to the hospital with arsenic poisoning. When you take up a dangerous hobby like collecting elements from the periodic table, those things are inevitable.

Itch is an engaging young adult Fiction, mystery about a boy's peculiar passion to collect all the elements of the periodic table, his friendship with his sister and cousin, and the adventures they have as a result.

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This initially started life as a short story to amuse Mayo’s youngest son before spiralling into a 94,000 word novel. However you wouldn’t know that this was his first foray into fiction as it’s a truly assured debut.