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NeverSeconds: The Incredible Story of Martha Payne Paperback – October 1, 2012

by Martha Payne (Author), David Payne (Illustrator)

4.6 55 ratings

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Martha Payne is nine years old. She set up a simple blog, neverseconds, where she reviewed her school lunches and talked about healthy eating for children. She hoped to raise a few hundred pounds for her favorite charity, Mary's Meals. After 7 million blog hits, one council-led banning, being the number one story on every news site worldwide, and having raised over £115,000 for Mary's Meals, Martha is one of the biggest news stories of the year. Endorsed by Jamie Oliver and Nick Nairn, her story is extraordinary—the little girl who changed lives in Africa, stood up to the government, and won the hearts of people all over the world. Find out the real story of the blog, what happened behind the scenes, learn all about Martha's trip to Malawi, and how her work is changing the lives of children there. Every copy sold provides 25 school dinners for children in Malawi through a donation to Mary's Meals. Find out about the most inspirational story of the year and help the fight to end hunger in Malawi.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martha Payne, better known as Veg of the blog neverseconds, is the nine year old author, and is assisted by David Payne, her father.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cargo Publishing (October 1, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 206 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1908885165
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1908885166
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #10,036,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8,329 in Social Activist Biographies
- #15,015 in Children's Health (Books)

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4.6 55 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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Kathleen M. Labranche

A gem of a book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013

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I have been following the young author's blog (now 10-year-old Martha Payne, with her dad's input) about her school lunches served in Scotland. She invited guest writers from schools all over the world to contribute photos and ratings of their own school lunches, from Texas to Japan. The realization that some kids don't get lunch at all sparked a movement to raise money for Mary's Meals, a foundation that provides nourishing meals to children in Malawi. Martha describes her adventures, capping it all with a trip to Malawi with her family to see the new kitchen that was built with her efforts and those of many. The photos are terrific, and I was touched by the stories of many kids - like the students in New Zealand who made gallons of lemonade to raise money. It's funny and captivating. This was the best gift I could have given this Christmas. If ordering in the USA shipping takes a while since it is printed in the UK.

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D. Clark

Well done, Martha and Dave!

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2013

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I have been following Martha's blog, NeverSeconds, since she began it. This wonderful book tells all the back-story, and also contains the blog entries. Kudos to a brave girl and her supportive dad!

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

I've been following this story online for some time when I seen this book, it allowed be to share it with other not online.
And at the same time help out Mary's Meals.

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2013

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Amazing young lady....great story and very worthwhile project. Way to go Martha. I was amazed at what one little girl can do.

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Well Done Veg

You will laugh tears and you will cry tears - amazing

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2012

I pre-ordered this title from Amazon and it arrived in perfect timing for launch.

This is a must read book, not only are you feeding 25 impoverished children in Malawi, you are getting a really great biography from 2 people currently in the spot light because of the blog NeverSeconds.

Unless it is my sense of humour, the first few pages had me in stitches and yes I can relate to the number of shoe and clothes changes - you have to read it to find out as I don't want to put any spoilers in.

Buy it as a gift or read it for yourself, I am enjoying it and hopefully you will to.

Thumbs up from me!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

SnoBunny

Not what you might expect

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2012

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I had pre-ordered this book prior to it's being published, and was looking forward to seeing the actual book.

I was expecting something more along the lines of a short-story, written in rather large type-font. When it arrived and I took it out of the mailer, I realized I was going to need to find my reading glasses. Winter is starting to settle in around us here in the American middle-west, so I decided to take the book and a cup of hot tea into the bedroom and snuggle in for a good, long, read.

I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting, with about one 2 minute break while I wandered out to the kitchen to get an apple. And I couldn't help seeing the irony in my apple-wandering to my well-stocked kitchen, as I read about children whose main (and sometimes only) source of food was the mug of porridge they received at school.

It's definitely a book to make you think. I question whether the full impact of the book has even really hit me yet, but here are a few thoughts:

* I'm stunned that, at least up to the point of publication of the book, the Argyle & Bute council have STILL not extended anything even resembling an apology to Martha and/or the Payne family.

* I had not realized that the bullying had reached the extent it had. While Dave is always very careful to remind readers that Martha always had the support of her school behind her, I was more than a bit dismayed to find that the school allowed the bullying to continue as long and as badly as it did.

* How easy it might be to criticize and find fault with Dave and Rebecca's parenting. How much more difficult it would be to find yourself in a similar situation. Although Dave does mention a few things that he now perhaps regrets or wishes he'd done differently, what an extraordinary extended family to have gotten through this with all their children's psyche's relatively intact!

* Although the book lists both Martha and Dave as authors, and I've no reason to believe that Martha wasn't consulted in the writing of it, I think this is actually Dave's story. (Where in the world he found time to keep up with a small-holding while all of this has been going on, and then write a book about it, is a mystery to me!) Martha is truly a talented writer in her own right and I'm hopeful that -- at some point in a few years when she's ready -- Martha will publish her own story.

Buy this book for two reasons:

1) It's the truly amazing story of how one 9-year old girl changed the world.

2) Every copy sold feeds 25 children who, otherwise, would go hungry.

6 people found this helpful

Great Up North

Incredible - the story behind the headlines

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2012

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The book takes the reader behind the tweets, blog and headlines caused by a council's attempts to silence a child, which led to international outrage. It shows a gentle family trying to live an ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances - which they never set out to create.
Readers of the blog will recognise the familiar blunt writing style of 9 year old Martha in the extracts from her blog which tell her side of the story.
But they'll be pleasantly surprised by Dad David's more fluid and descriptive style as he outlines behind the-scenes dilemmas and anxieties which aren't reflected in Martha's posts. I wonder if Martha was even aware of the sleep her parents lost as the world's media came calling?
There's no ego on these pages - no trace of stage school kid or pushy parents. Just a genuine desire to make the best out of a surprising situation and fulfil a promise made to a farmer who'd helped the family - that in return they'd 'help someone else'.
The book demonstrates the balancing act Martha's parents faced - trying maintain normal life in a small Scottish town while struggling with the worst of local government and the mysteries of the media.
And it's not just for parents. Anyone with an interest in management, social media, PR or crisis prevention will recognise the bungling decisions made by Argyll and Bute Council as a case study in 'how not to do it'. The ongoing persecution of a 9 year old by the institution which should, by law, be protecting her, is jaw-dropping. The revelations made in this book of just how badly they behaved are truly shocking.
If children in Malawi are the winners in this tale then it's the council that's the loser. Well done Martha.

8 people found this helpful

Paul Weaver

The children can get it right when the adults fail

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a well written book and reminds me well of the story that I started reading on the NeverSeconds blog.

Having followed the Blog I had wondered what the true 'back story' was that had lead to Martha having been told to stop taking photos of her school dinner for the Blog and then going on to raise such a fantastic amount of money for Marys Meals.

By writing this book David and Martha Payne have filled in those missing details that were not out there for us to read.

It shows where the adults in the local authority got the mood of the world wrong when they choose to stop Martha's photos. It also goes on to cover the local authorities reaction to being challenged about what they claimed and the way they then further backed themselves into a corner which resulted in making out that Martha was not being accurate in her reports of her school dinners and the choice available to all the children at her school.

Featuring Martha's Blog entries and photos along with Blogs from other children who were invited to be guest Bloggers during Martha's school holiday, with an explanation of what was causing the Blogs to be written side by side in the book the format is highly effective.

If you buy this you will want to buy a copy for a friend too, it would make an ideal Christmas present.

3 people found this helpful

Caithness.org

A true and inspiring story helping yet more hungry kids

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

The book arrived yesterday and I was glad I had pre ordered to beat the rush. A great read to see all the background details to this inspiring campaign. Combining feeding even more kids did it for me.

Even if I did not want to read the book I would have bought it anyway but in the end its a good read - well done.

My only question is about the tv programme where they gave out the back packs and one little girl missed out at the end as she was late for her class. It seemed very hard and I wonder if she and her family ever got one as they all have so little. It would be good to know and if we could send another lot of packs.

My interest will continue in Malawi now you have tweeked my interest. and of course your never seconds blog.

Well done to you and everyone who has helped.

2 people found this helpful

David Jamieson

Sweet Story of ordinary people in extraordinary world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2012

Verified Purchase

I purchased this out of curiousity; many people will recall this story from earlier in the year and now this charity book has been released.

First of all, this is a beautiful book-high quality paper, full colour photos from Martha's blog and lot of pictures of Malawi and the family.

Secondly, what a story. And well told by the father of Martha. If you're a parent, you'll absolutely identify with this book. Imagine if your young child was thrown into being a global star in just a few months-how would ou cope? The answer is that the Payne family seemed to be overwhelmed, but the kids come across as very grounded despite being asked to take part in amazing things that other children would be brattish about. The parents seem very nice and sensible and this is a very warm book. Stories of rejecting Hollywood film deals while going camping give you an idea of this! Likeable, ordinary people in a very unique situation.

I'll now be buying copies for gifts for Xmas. Brilliant stuff.

11 people found this helpful

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