The book every mother is desperately trying to get.

Not since Harry Potter have we seen lines so long.

Disaster struck my house yesterday.

I know some of you might call this a first-world problem but I am telling you straight it was a catastrophe.

Let me set the scene leading up to the out-and-out calamity.

We’ve been counting down the days in this house, ticking them off awaiting a big event in the life of a seven-year-old boy.

Slowly, slowly dreaming of machines that fire out marshmallows, man eating shark tanks, baby dinosaur petting zoos and flying catenaries. (You know a cross between a cat and a canary. Obvs.)

Waiting, anticipating the day.

My son woke up yesterday morning and he just knew.

IT WAS TODAY.

"52 STOREY TREEHOUSE IS OUT," he yelled at me as he bolted down the stairs.

We had a plan. He was going to school. I was going to the bookshop. Straight there no stopping.

All afternoon activities cancelled.

And 78 flavours of ice cream for afternoon tea served by an “ice cream serving robot” called Edward Scooperhands.

(Yeah, wasn’t quite sure how I was going to pull that off.)

And he was going to throw himself headfirst up a treehouse complete with a rocket-powered carrot-launcher, a life-size snakes and ladders game, and a Ninja Snail Training Academy.

Oh the questions he had asked.

Will Jill be back? What about the catenaries? Will Professor Stupido be back Mum? What’s with all the rabbits? Will the once-upon-a-time-machine make another appearance?

It was a momentous day.

And then disaster struck (and not just some ordinary disaster like being un-invented.) This was a real life disaster.

My car broke down. The mechanic smiled his wiley ways and there was going to be no trip to the bookshop.

If you don’t know what the Andy Griffiths series of books are you’ve either been living at the top of a very isolated treehouse or you haven’t got kids between the ages of 5 and 12.

Australian author Andy Griffiths is one of our most popular children’s authors with over 50 Australian Children’s Choice Awards.

He is the author of over 27 successful books – but the most popular so far have been the Treehouse series.

First released in 2011, the 13 Storey Treehouse has been re-printed in 15 countries. It was followed up by the 26 Storey Treehouse, the 39 Storey Treehouse and now the 52 Storey Treehouse.

Yesterday’s launch was the one that thousands of mothers and fathers around the country eagerly anticipated. Griffith’s books have a knack of tapping into exactly what gives kids a love of reading.

Parents of reluctant boy readers have been especially thankful for the gift of Griffith.

Hence the frantic frenzy to get our hands on this literary gold.

Panic stepped in for me upon the car breakdown and I began ringing around retailers trying to secure a copy for my son.

One local store I rang told me they had a line of ladies with prams waiting for them to hit the shelves. He had ordered 150 copies he told me and had 100 of those pre-purchased.

He expected there to be only a few copies left on the shelf by tomorrow.

Over the weekend, at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival the 52-Storey pre-release (why didn’t anyone let me know?) was the number one bestseller.

400 copies whipped up within hours.

And in Andy Griffith’s hometown of Williamstown the local bookstore Book and Paper had a queue of 100 children at 6.30am waiting to meet the authour and get their books signed.

Ruth Ellis, the Children’s Category Manager for Dymocks, told us that, “The demand for 52 Storey Treehouse has been huge. We’ve seen more interest in this book than any previous book by Andy Griffiths and we expect 52 Storey Treehouse to be our biggest selling Children’s book this Christmas.”

“We anticipate to sell a couple of thousand copies by the end of the week which is a 30% increase on last year’s sales when Andy’s book, The 39 Storey Treehouse was released.”

It seems in a time overwhelmed with electronic media parents will sacrifice anything - yes ANYTHING - to get a much loved book for their kids.

So today’s the day - nothing aside a Maze of Doom can stop me.

Are your kids obsessed with the Treehouse series?

Want more? Try:

10 awesome books for kids under 10.

In a panic about book week costumes? Well, these might make you feel worse.

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