Framed

Frank Cottrell Boyce aims this charming story of family and community life, from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, at tweens, but it will have adults rolling with laughter. An extremely well-crafted book, with disciplined editing, which I attribute to Cottrell Boyce's first career as a screenwriter. An immensely entertaining read, with mystery, suspense, humor, and a subtle and effective argument in favor of the supreme importance of all people. ( )

Dylan Hughes is the only boy living in Manod, an uneventful Welsh town of drizzling grayness that Dylan thinks is full of Hidden Beauty. His best buddies are two agoraphobic chickens named Michelangelo and Donatello after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His family runs the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage. When the business falters, his father takes off, and Dylan, Mam, his older sister, Marie, and his aspiring criminal genius younger sister, Minnie, try to make Oasis more profitable so that Dad will return. Flooding in London causes the National Gallery to evacuate its paintings to the safety of Manod's old quarry mine. (An actual evacuation to the Manod slate quarry occurred during World War II.) Lester, the art expert in charge, takes a shine to Dylan as an art connoisseur on hearing the chickens' names. When he agrees to put one masterpiece at a time on view, the villagers' lives are changed. Minnie concocts a hilarious scheme to nick Van Gogh's Sunflowers, replacing it with a paint-by-number affair. All gets sorted out and Dad comes home. ( )

Framed is a wonderfully quirky book about the unexpected effects of famous works of art on a small town in Wales. The book is narrated by Dylan Hughes, the only boy left in Manod so with little hope of a pickup game of soccer. Other Manod residents include the Misses Sellwood, who drive to town every Wednesday with blind Miss Elsa behind the wheel while Miss Edna steers; Daft Tom, a child-like man obsessed with the Ninja Turtles; Terrible Evans, who signals her crush on Dylan by poking him in the eye whenever he's within reach; and Dylan's younger sister, Minnie, whose fascination with crime and criminals may signal trouble ahead.

Cottrell Boyce gets 9-year-old Dylan's voice just right. Dylan's Manod seems like the center of the world, and it's someplace I'd love to visit. Of course, I'll be stopping at the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel for a latte and a Crispy Choc Constable while I'm there. Maybe I'll even kick a soccer ball around with Dylan, if he wouldn't mind playing with a girl. ( )

The storage of paintings from the London National Gallery inside an abandoned mine near the tiny Welsh town of Manod, drastically changes the dreary town where it rains all the time, and alters forever the life of Manod's only boy, Dylan, who is fond of soccer (which, being the only boy, he doesn't often get to play) and cars (which, helping at his parents' gas station, he sees a lot of), but not particularly interested in paintings. Things are especially stirred up when Minnie, Dylan's criminal-mastermind-in-training sister, decides to pull the art heist of the century.

This is an entertaining story full of amusing incidents, and nine year old Dylan is a hilarious narrator, who does not always have a complete grasp on the events happening around him. For instance, Dylan befriends Lester, a Londoner who is the paintings' primary caregiver, after a mixed message conversation-- Dylan was talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but Lester thought he meant the Renaissance artists, and mistakenly concluded that Dylan was a young art prodigy; further mishaps do nothing but reinforce Lester's inaccurate view. The supporting characters are all eccentric, but still realistic. The story's greatest strength, though, is the way that one by one, the people of the town (and also Lester), are inspired by art around them and slowly begin to change Manod and their lives for the better, creating a unique story about the transformational power of art. Readers ages nine through thirteen will best appreciate the book's humor. ( )

Dylan and his sisters have some ideas about how to make Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel into a more profitable business, but it is not until some strange men arrive in their small town of Manod, Wales with valuable paintings, and their father disappears, that they consider turning to crime. ( )