Cosmic

Product Information

Liam is given a phone by his dad, which is connected to his dad's, so his dad can read Liam's texts and e-mails. They have a good solid appreciation of that feeling of awe and fear we have sometimes when we gaze up at the moon. Then, if you’re successful, the ‘Dad’ amongst the children, what if you realise all this role playing is not Cosmic at all, but very scary?

As he did with Millions, Boyce brings in deep philosophical ideas in a kid-friendly, convincing, and moving way. Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned.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. It is the nuances, the inflections, the attention to detail and the empathy that makes this book so wonderful.

He has also written episodes of Coronation Street and Brookside, so you probably know his stories from your TV set.This is a middle-grade book, about a boy who is a lot taller than he supposed to be since he's only 12 years old! Whereas Charlie is deserving because despite his unspeakable poverty he doesn't complain or challenge the system, but Liam earns his reward for working hard and challenging the status quo. And Boyce is the master of funny (and always pertinent) chapter headings like “The Ice-Cream Man of the Gobi Desert”.

To the book’s readers, Liam is convincingly a kid throughout his story, even as he convinces the adults he encounters that he is an adult. Like most tweens, he decides to take advantage of this situation, which results in an outlandish excursion to China for the world's largest roller coaster. But he is still a twelve year-old and, in a manner reminiscent of Josh Baskin (Tom Hanks' character in the movie Big), we repeatedly experience Liam's being thrust into the role of an adult who frequently has more of a child-like spirit than any of the "normal" kids around him. 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.Furthermore, what if seeming to be thirty when you’re twelve could lead you to being the responsible adult on an international space mission? Frank's first book, Millions, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004 and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2004. Long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space. They would also only drop off a case of books and leave us to run it – it was so lovely to have you on hand to chat to the children and recommend them books, as well as the small (but appreciated!