Matthews Magic Weekend - Matthew And The Big Bad Cold

Matthew’s Magic Weekend – Matthew and the Big Bad Cold (1992)
Stephen Weatherill – Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 0330324985
Condition: Used (like every favourite teddy during flu season)
Vendor: Crappy Old Books

Poor Matthew. It’s the weekend, there is fun to be had, and he has been ambushed by the deadliest foe of all childhood: a really annoying cold.

In Matthew’s Magic Weekend – Matthew and the Big Bad Cold, our small hero is snuffly, sneezy, and tragically banned from anything that looks even slightly like fun. No running about. No adventures. No “just five more minutes.” Just tissues, blankets and adults saying, “You need REST” in that tone that clearly means “no.”

Fortunately, Matthew has three essential weapons:

1. An over-active imagination

2. A suspiciously magical weekend

3. A firm belief that colds are no match for proper make-believe

Inside these gently lived-in pages you’ll find:

• Matthew vs. The Cold, framed as an epic battle where every sneeze is a mini-volcano and every tissue is a fallen comrade.

• A weekend that refuses to be boring: from bed-castles and sofa-forts to tea that might as well be a wizard’s potion (if only it didn’t taste so medicinal).

• Grown-ups who mean well but just don’t grasp that yes, you can absolutely have an adventure without leaving your duvet.

• Warm, funny illustrations by Stephen Weatherill, capturing the full drama of flushed cheeks, heroic sulking and the world’s most determined small boy trying to wring excitement out of being poorly.

• A reassuring message that even when you feel rotten, you’re still allowed to be imaginative, mischievous and entirely yourself.

It’s the cosy sort of story that makes being ill look almost… tolerable. Almost.

Our copy is graded Used, which, in the brutally honest but affectionate language of Crappy Old Books, means:

• The cover shows light wear: a tiny crease here, a bit of edge rubbing there – exactly what happens when a book has been read in bed under blankets, possibly accompanied by a small sniffle and a slightly sticky hand.

• The spine is creased but sturdy, proof that the book has actually been opened more than once and not just posed attractively on a nursery shelf.

• The pages are all present, intact and very much readable, with perhaps the faintest signs of previous bedtime duty: a soft corner, a tiny smudge, a whisper of having been turned half-asleep.

• No catastrophic juice spills, no pages missing right when it gets good, no biro moustaches on Matthew. Just honest, child-tested wear from doing its job as a comfort read.

Not pristine, not “gift-shop perfect” – but exactly the kind of well-loved you want in a children’s book.

Perfect for:

• Little ones stuck at home with a cold who need proof that illness doesn’t cancel imagination.

• Parents and grandparents looking for a gentle, funny “you’re poorly, but we’ve got this” read-aloud.

• Anyone who remembers the particular drama of being told “no, you can’t go out, you’re ill” and thinking it was the greatest injustice of the modern age.

• Grown-up collectors of 90s kids’ books who appreciate soft, characterful illustration and small, determined protagonists.

Matthew’s Magic Weekend – Matthew and the Big Bad Cold is a sweet, slightly snuffly celebration of turning a miserable weekend into a magical one, armed only with tissues, imagination and the world’s most put-upon child.

Available now from Crappy Old Books, where our stories are gently dog-eared, our protagonists are a bit sneezy, and our “Used” condition just proves this book has already comforted at least one poorly kid before yours.

Keep browsing: See more Kids books Other books by Stephen Weatherill