Cosmic

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And Boyce is the master of funny (and always pertinent) chapter headings like “The Ice-Cream Man of the Gobi Desert”. Bronnie is so lovely with the boys and we also felt that having a man enthusing about the books set a great example. Now, granted, Moonshot is a picture book and Cosmic is a wordy bit of fluffy genius, but the two share one significant thing in common. Steven Lenton is a multi-award winning illustrator, originally from Cheshire, now working from his studios in Brighton and London with his dog, Big Eared Bob. Even though he’s only 12, Liam is constantly mistaken for an adult, but he’s still a kid who loves playing computer games and riding rollercoasters.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. With that small, understated sentence Boyce hooks us up with his twelve-year old narrator, Liam, a “great lad. What if you’re lucky enough to win but learn that the competition is for four children and you’ve posed as an adult? Frank Cottrell- Boyce imbues this wildly funny and imaginative story with great dashes of pathos and philosophy.His inquisitive nature and adult appearance often get him into trouble but his dad usually intervenes and helps him avert disaster.

And it turned out to be just what I needed: a funny, laugh-out-loud, wistful and rollicking ride that reminded me at times of Roald Dahl (more on that later). In an unusual turn for a middle grade novel, it's also a reflection on fatherhood, and as our young protagonist attempts to be "dadly," (why? It really is a silly story, and yet poignant at times too - it's no shallow, brittle kind of humour, but earnest, which also makes it just that little bit sad. Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth was shortlisted for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal and selected for the inaugural WHSmith Tom Fletcher Book Club.It's written from Liam's point of view which shows the naivety of a young teenager's thought process and how they can get themselves into trouble without even trying. One lesson the World of Warcraft teaches you is that if you want to succeed on the next level, you need to acquire new skills.