Let’s admit it: Sometimes, school holidays can go on for too long. They are wonderful, of course, full of days and days of waking up late and not doing homework. But they can also get a little… boring. Because adventures don’t happen every day, and what you want most on a holiday is adventure.

Archie doesn’t have this problem. The titular character from Andrew Norriss’ story for kids, I Don’t Believe It, Archie!, has adventures every single day. The moment he opens the front door and steps out, strange things happen to him. He can’t so much as walk to the grocer’s without getting into a peculiar situation. And this has been happening to him all his life.

Don’t believe it? No one does; not even Archie’s mother. But it’s true.

One Monday, when Archie is halfway to the post office to post a letter for his mother, he hears a rumble behind him. A piano comes sliding down the hill. In the middle of the road. Without a soul near it. You may be surprised, but Archie isn’t. After all, odd things happen to him every day. But this runaway piano is a surprise to a girl named Cyd, who is trapped in her mother’s car when the piano stops in front of its door. One strange thing leads to another, even stranger thing, but by the time everything is sorted out, Archie has a new friend: Cyd. And because Cyd was involved in Archie’s adventure, she believes him when he explains that odd things happen to him every day.

That’s why Cyd is there on Tuesday, when Archie goes out to buy milk for his little brother, and comes across a dog that seems to be dead. What with one thing or another, the dog’s owner thinks Archie killed it, so it’s lucky that Cyd is there to sort things out.

Which brings us to Wednesday, when Archie goes to the library and gets caught – literally glued! – in a protest. And then on Thursday, with Cyd firmly by his side (she’s never had so many adventures before), Archie is mistaken for a boy who’s been kidnapped and returned for ransom. On Friday, he goes looking for his little sister’s toy lion and finds a real lion instead. And a leopard. On Saturday, Archie and Cyd go to watch the filming of a movie about a bank robbery – and are accused of stealing jewelry. And on Sunday, Archie decides he needs a quiet day at home while Cyd is off on a holiday — but then Cyd turns up because her mother’s bag has been stolen, and suddenly, Sunday becomes the greatest adventure of all in this fun story for kids.

That’s just a week in the life of Archie – and his mother never believes it. So if you’re about 7- to 9-years-old and bored during your school holidays, just read Norriss’ story for kids to understand that sometimes, there’s nothing better than boredom.