The Amber Amulet

This is wonderful. The connection between the odd young Liam and the woman he saves is endearing and shows us that chance meetings can lead to life-changing consequences. By the end of this charming little novelette, Liam becomes a real "Masked Avenger", making a positive difference to a fellow human being.

This is a sweet story about a lonely, young boy, who at night becomes 'The Masked Avenger' patrolling Franklin Street and protecting its citizens. Twelve-year-old Liam is a loveable character with a big heart who tries to save an unhappy woman at the end of the street. With only 86 pages, "The Amber Amulet" is beautifully presented and will charm young and old alike with its whimsical tale and touching illustrations. Congratulations to Craig Silvey on another literary gem.

Meet twelve-year-old Liam McKenzie, who patrols his suburban neighbourhood as the Masked Avenger - a superhero with powers so potent not even he can fully comprehend their extent. Along with his sidekick, Richie the Powerbeagle, he protects the people of Franklin Street from chaos, mayhem, evil and low tyre pressure - but can he save them from sadness?

I loved this.
It was fabulous. It reminds me of Morris Gleitzman's work. It is warm and funny in all the right ways. I was going to get my kids to read it but for the appearance of a curse word that I prefer they don't use. Maybe the eldest can cope with that though

Over all quite sweet, with some of the lovely writing I've seen in Craig's earlier works, but this is more of a long-ish short story than anything and very much for younger readers.

Love the illustrations, but I felt as though the placement of them needed to be better thought out. It was quite distracting to be halfway through a sentence and have a diagram on the next double page spread. The diagrams/illustrations need a good look/read through, but I wanted to at least finish a paragraph before giving my time to them. Even better might have been if there was an illustration tailored to sit at the end of each chapter, but then there might have been some nice ones left out.

I'll keep waiting for the next Craig Silvey for older readers.

A great very quick read, simple and thought provoking.