Following the adventures of 11-year-old Barry Bennett, who is transported to an alternate universe where potential parents have to “audition” in front of children, the project is being billed as a male Matilda, with a pre-teen boy taking centre stage in a West End musical. Barry Bennett has a long list of things he dislikes about his parents: being boring; being too tired, not letting him play video games and getting a limo to take him to see the latest James Bond film on his birthday (and naming him Barry) being just some of their deeply heinous crimes. But what if the tables were turned and children could choose their parents? What would Barry do? LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Heathcote, Charlotte (23 November 2014). "David Baddiel: 'I work on five things at once' ". Express.co.uk . Retrieved 20 July 2022.

Is it when Barry realises that he is getting angrier? Is it something that somebody says? Is it when he throws the DVD? Baddiel was inspired to write the book after a conversation with his nine-year-old son, Ezra. After visiting a Harry Potter exhibition, Ezra asked his father 'Dad, why didn't Harry run away from the Dursleys and go and find some better parents?' [3] [4] This inspired Baddiel to write the book. And suddenly a feeling that had been welling up inside Barry for… well, since his dad had closed the door on Jake and Taj and Lukas just before tea, but in another way for much longer than that, maybe ever since he’d understood that, unfortunately, his name was Barry - a feeling that he wanted to both cry and shout and break something all at the same time - exploded out of him. A brilliantly funny, gripping novel from a born storyteller, The Parent Agency is an epic wish-fulfilment adventure for every child - and for the child in everyone. Barry said, a third time, I wish I had better parents! And then suddenly the entire room started to shake...Barry Bennett hates being called Barry.I love this book because it really made me laugh! The best book I’ve read since I was born!” Tom, 11, LoveReading4Kids Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Genre Family and home stories (Children’s/YA) Buy The Parent Agency, By David Baddiel, Read by David Baddiel

I hate you because you’re boring! And tired ALL THE TIME! And always TELLING ME OFF FOR NOTHING! And saying, ‘That’s a swear,’ when all I’ve done is say ‘BUM!’’ The show is being put together by John Berry and Anthony Lilley of Scenario Two, producers of the recent Terry Gilliam-helmed Into The Woods at Theatre Royal Bath.A brilliantly funny, gripping novel from a born storyteller, The Parent Agency is an epic wish-fulfilment adventure for every child – and for the child in everyone.