MMGM: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon

Have you ever wondered why so many great humorists are British? Does the gray weather cause the humor gene to become dominant? Maybe being stuck inside on rainy days encourages joking around and being generally hilarious?

I'm not sure what it is, but the fact remains that there are some very, very funny British writers, from Shakespeare and Austen to Steven Moffat and my current obsession: Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Two years ago, I reviewed his first sequel to the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang here. It was called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, and it was amazing. Early this year, I listened to the audiobook version (the part of me that became a "petrolhead" Top Gear fan when I married Mark took great delight in the fact that it was narrated by Richard Hammond--who did a top rate job of reading even without his celebrity status holding him up) and completely forgot about the sub-zero temperatures and baby blues for the duration of the story. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I had a steady supply of new Frank Cottrell Boyce books at hand, I could even live through winter without hot chocolate. Maybe any chocolate.

I've resorted to frequent re-readings (Millions is the best and gets more enjoyable the more you get to know it), so you can imagine my delight/joy/ecstasy when I realized the last installment in the "sequel series" was released.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Over the Moon is...a really long title to type. But besides that, everything about it is wonderful. It continues in the same vein of hilarity and poignancy which I mentioned in my review of its predecessor, with one fabulous addition: the Pott family. Please, someone out there, be familiar enough with Ian Fleming's original to be as excited about that as I am. (The movie's okay, but, really, the book is, well, you know.) Jemima Pott, in Mr. Boyce's version, is one of the best, and funniest, smart/strong/funny girls ever. Put her together with the sequels' Mrs. Tooting and Lucy Tooting, and you have a team that can save the world--and, well, does.