What would you do if you met a talking fish? And not just any fish, a talking mackerel?
This is what swimming fanatic Billy discovers when swimming in the ocean. Bullied at school and facing problems at home, Billy relates everything to David Attenborough type wildlife scenarios. Is it any wonder then that he comes face to face with a fish (Bob) who not only talks (in Hungarian) but who also wants to whisk Billy off into the safe world of 'Us'. But what if the safe world of 'Us' means disappearing from the real world, and never returning?
This was the first book chosen for my Children's Book Club. At 300 or so pages it was easily managed within the four week allotted time frame, it had so many talking points and I think we are all just a little bit wiser about wildlife, David Attenborough and the Bermuda Triangle.
I loved best friend Patrick, the wannabe magician who stuck by Billy despite his insistence that fish could talk. Throwing stinky socks at each other seemed kind of gross to me but the boys in the club thought this was a pretty OK thing to do. We were impressed that despite Patrick's inability to swim, he handcuffed himself to Billy in an attempt to prevent him disappearing in to the murky depths with Bob.
I particularly loved the relationship between Billy and his parents. So often in children's literature parents are either evil step mums or removed from the picture entirely leaving the lonely, vulnerable child to overcome the odds. This wasn't the route Daykin chose. Billy had a lovely mum and dad who despite the stress of illness were kind, caring and present. Bravo.
I also loved the short Bermuda Triangle sections. Highlighting that somethings, no matter how intelligent we are, we can't explain - a talking fish! The turning point in the book for me was the section where Daykin describes the pilot flying to Miami. Unable to see, surrounded by stormy clouds, the pilot didn't know whether he was going the right way. Yet suddenly the clouds cleared and the pilot ended up in Miami quicker than he should have done. He was going the right way all along, he just didn't know it.
The children awarded it 3 out of 5 fish. Well it is called Fish Boy.
Did you know that crows have worked out that if you drop nuts on to Zebra Crossings, cars will run over them and crush them just enough so the nut can then be eaten?
If you liked Fish Boy try Daykin's new book The Boy Who Hit Play about a boy found abandoned in a zoo as a baby and named Elvis after his adopted father's record collection. Or try Boy Under Water by Adam Baron about a boy who has never swam who sets off to do just that after searching how to front crawl on Google.
This is what swimming fanatic Billy discovers when swimming in the ocean. Bullied at school and facing problems at home, Billy relates everything to David Attenborough type wildlife scenarios. Is it any wonder then that he comes face to face with a fish (Bob) who not only talks (in Hungarian) but who also wants to whisk Billy off into the safe world of 'Us'. But what if the safe world of 'Us' means disappearing from the real world, and never returning?
This was the first book chosen for my Children's Book Club. At 300 or so pages it was easily managed within the four week allotted time frame, it had so many talking points and I think we are all just a little bit wiser about wildlife, David Attenborough and the Bermuda Triangle.
I loved best friend Patrick, the wannabe magician who stuck by Billy despite his insistence that fish could talk. Throwing stinky socks at each other seemed kind of gross to me but the boys in the club thought this was a pretty OK thing to do. We were impressed that despite Patrick's inability to swim, he handcuffed himself to Billy in an attempt to prevent him disappearing in to the murky depths with Bob.
I particularly loved the relationship between Billy and his parents. So often in children's literature parents are either evil step mums or removed from the picture entirely leaving the lonely, vulnerable child to overcome the odds. This wasn't the route Daykin chose. Billy had a lovely mum and dad who despite the stress of illness were kind, caring and present. Bravo.
I also loved the short Bermuda Triangle sections. Highlighting that somethings, no matter how intelligent we are, we can't explain - a talking fish! The turning point in the book for me was the section where Daykin describes the pilot flying to Miami. Unable to see, surrounded by stormy clouds, the pilot didn't know whether he was going the right way. Yet suddenly the clouds cleared and the pilot ended up in Miami quicker than he should have done. He was going the right way all along, he just didn't know it.
The children awarded it 3 out of 5 fish. Well it is called Fish Boy.
Did you know that crows have worked out that if you drop nuts on to Zebra Crossings, cars will run over them and crush them just enough so the nut can then be eaten?
If you liked Fish Boy try Daykin's new book The Boy Who Hit Play about a boy found abandoned in a zoo as a baby and named Elvis after his adopted father's record collection. Or try Boy Under Water by Adam Baron about a boy who has never swam who sets off to do just that after searching how to front crawl on Google.
Comments
Post a Comment