Frank Cottrell Boyce

"I'm not exactly in the Lake District."

This is how we meet Liam, a twelve-year old boy who looks much older. So much so that he is continuously mistaken for an adult. So much so that he finds himself in outer space, with a bunch of kids, who think he's a dad. And now everything has gone wrong and it's up to him to get them all home safely again. It's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with a bit of Space Odyssey and World of Warcraft thrown in.

One of the things that I love about Boyce's show more books is how he includes very philosophical ideas but makes them very accessible. In this case, he explores the psychological implications of seeing the earth from space with the concept of "dadliness," what makes a person a parent. Boyce balances these potentially contrived, sappy topics with pitch-perfect humor. He is a master of setting up scenes and writing dialogue.

This is one of my favorite books of this year, and I shall give it to everyone I see.


--Response of first reading (May 2010)--
Love! I would be reading this on the train and be very sad when my stop came and I had to put it away. How could I have forgotten how much I love this author? I even want to go back and reread the others now.

I love how Liam figures out his course of action by comparing life to World of Warcraft levels (note to self: have a WoW player read this and comment).

I love how the story is a kind of new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Sort of. Kinda.

I did think that Liam managed to be very grown-up through the entire second half, and perhaps could have shown more of the boy who would probably be freaking out. But I didn't really care.

Florida cracks me up. I know so many kids just like that. show less

Prez and his granddad, residents of Dumfries, are inseparable—Granddad tells tales of sailing the seven seas with criminals and kings, and Prez keeps Granddad from getting too mixed up. But one day, Granddad is taken away and Prez is sent to live with a foster family, the Blythes, on their farm in the country. Then the Blythes receive another guest. Prez sees him as a wee man in a space helmet, flying goggles, and kilt, and the rest of the family see him as a dog. Either way, Sputnik — show more as he styles himself — is here to look out for Prez and to find out the Ten Things Worth Doing on Earth. Along the way, chaotic adventures ensue, particularly when Sputnik starts reading the manual!

I listened to the audiobook narrated by the always-excellent Peter Capaldi, aka the Twelfth Doctor, and he does a fantastic job. I especially loved his Granddad voice and the portrayal of Sputnik, who seems a bit Time Lord-y in his outlook toward humans and general capacity for Earth-based mayhem. Having a proper Scottish person reading a book set in Scotland adds so much more to the atmosphere, too, and teaches this non-Scot how to pronounce some things like dreich (dreek) and stramash (the stress is on MASH), as well as the place names.

The story is hilarious. I was listening to this mostly on planes and trains while in Scotland and kept smirking to myself at amusing turns of phrase or when the outcome of the latest adventure was made apparent. And at the same time it’s a thoughtful, sensitive portrayal of a child looking after an elderly relative with dementia. There were a few moments of strategic hiding behind sunglasses or magazines while I blinked back tears. It was partly the fact that Prez, at age 10, shouldn’t have had to have that burden by himself, but if you’ve had a relative with dementia, there’s a lot here that will hit home.

I rate this 4 stars for the story itself with a bonus star for Peter’s narration. I had a lot of fun with this and hope to re-read it sometime. show less

Liam has always felt a bit like he's stuck between two worlds. This is primarily because he's a twelve-year-old kid who looks like he's about thirty. Sometimes it's not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it's just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around. Liam cons his way onto the first spaceship show more to take civilians into space, a special flight for a group of kids and an adult chaperone, and he is going as the adult chaperone. It's not long before Liam, along with his friends, is stuck between two worlds again--only this time he's 239,000 miles from home.
Frank Cottrell Boyce brings us a funny and touching story of the many ways in which grown-upness is truly wasted on grown-ups. show less

I've yet to read a book of his I don't love to pieces. I have a feeling adults will probably enjoy them more than kids, but man are they wonderful. Cosmic has a weird premise that works: A tall boy impersonates an adult to get a trip on a rocket. A wonderful fathers day treat and I don't think it will alienate kids whose fathers are no longer in their lives--especially after the last chapter.