“No, it can’t be true! We have to plan a counter-attack. All our parents went on a course called How To Be A Present Parent and now they’re interfering in absolutely EVERYTHING! They put up signs, create new rules, check our phones and track our every move. But my friends and I have agreed – our crew will never be split up, no matter what happens. We will always help each other and we’ll never let anyone cross the Freedom Zone. But now it’s being threatened … it’s actually under attack!”
The kids are seriously tired of their controlling parents and they’ve escaped out into the forest, to form a resistance group and they’re preparing for an attack. They create a satire magazine that they hand out to everyone in their year, cover up their parents’ signs with their own and get to grips with the statistics on just how likely you are to crash into a car when you’re sledging. Meanwhile, the parents call the police to look for the children with thermal imaging cameras and helicopters.
The mood is increasingly tense to say the least. These books are about the importance of letting children find their own path without the adults hovering around them all the time. A twelve-year-old reader wrote the following to the author: “It would be amazing to have my own Freedom Zone. Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever be on my own. There’s always a grown-up nearby, watching over me.”
“My books are a kind of revolt against all of that,” says Per. This unique, fun and supremely exciting series, Benny’s Secret Reports, is a passionate tribute to children’s playtime, freedom and independence.
