Cosmic

Product Information

He is also the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, Cosmic, Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy and Runaway Robot.

There is no reason younger students cannot thoroughly enjoy it, but COSMIC is a must-read for middle schoolers. He used to run a Punch and Judy show, earning a fortune in small change, and just like Damian in Millions, he is a Catholic who is fascinated by stories of the saints. When you remember how much practice Liam has at pretending to be an adult, and of having adults who know he's a kid always expecting him to behave better, "big lad like you", it's not all that surprising.Mum, Dad – if you’re listening – you know I said I was going to the South Lakeland Outdoor Activity Centre with the school? Pan Macmillan) Liam Digby seems to be too big for everything from his child-blazed blazer; Liam is definitely adult sized. Other reviewers have said it's a better book than Cosmic - considering how much I enjoyed this, perhaps I should read Millions too.

Convincing celebrity-gossip-obsessed Florida is only part of the problem: when they arrive their host, Dr Drax, tells them that it is the four children who will be going into space. Can you convince the other children that your best friend’s ‘Dad’ is the one they’d most want with them? In addition to original scripts, Cottrell Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction, winning the 2004 Carnegie Medal for his debut, Millions, based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name. What starts off as a silly story about tricking adults quickly turns into a story about taking responsibility and caring for others, even when they do things to make your life difficult.As this is mostly Liam’s reflection of the events that led him to be in charge of a space shuttle, there is a bit of jumping between ‘present-day Liam’ talking about his view of the Earth, and the Liam of the past, in the months leading up to the adventure. The majority of the book, however, is dedicated to their time in space, orbiting the moon in a shuttle that closely resembles an ice-cream bus. A slightly awkward boy, and socially somewhat stilted, Liam's application of gaming logic to real-life situations is totally believable. Steven has also written his own picture book ‘Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights’ and his new illustrated fiction series ‘Genie and Teeny’. Adults reading will understand pretty early on that Florida’s supposedly perfect father that she's always comparing Liam to is just a figment of her imagination.

Not that they aren’t easy to look up, but you may scratch your head a little when you run across them. Bought this during the first lockdown as it was the text being read in school by my child's class before the first lockdown. All that practice at pretending to be Florida's dad comes in very handy when he wins a competition to be among the first people to visit a new, state-of-the-art space-themed theme park in China.

It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Cosmic gets a big gold star for the fact that it is so appealing to both children and adults (particularly parental-type adults). In fact, I frequently found myself reading with a mental British accent, and a big smile on my face, because seriously.