The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne
There's nothing unusual about the Brockets. BORING, RESPECTABLE and PROUD of it, they turn up their noses at anyone STRANGE or different. But from the moment BARNABY BROCKET comes into the world, he defies the laws of gravity - AND FLOATS. Desperate to please his Parents, Baranby does his best to Keep both feet on the Ground - BUT HE JUST CAN'T DO IT!
ONE Fateful day, the BROCkets decide enough is ENOUGH. They never asked for a weird, abnorMAL FLOATING CHILD. BARNABY HAS TO GO...
Betrayed, Frightened and ALONE, Barnaby floats into the PATH of a very special Hot-air BALLoon - and so begins a magical journey around the WORld.
The beginning of this slightly reminded me of the start of Harry Potter and the Camber of Secrets just regarding a normal family who hated anything out of the ordinary.
I adore stories that are made for children, because of the fast pace which the writers have to use, if they want to keep their young readers entertained, the simplicity used - no deep symbolism thank you very much and just the very fun themes that are regularly used. This book is no exception. John Boyne mushed all of the above things together - which I appreciate about children's fiction and as a result I found it very much worth reading.
The book is quite fast paced which is appropriately needed for the target audience. It achieves a fast pace because of all the wonderful things that happen in this book; Barnaby Brocket goes on an awful lot of exciting adventures, meets and helps people along the way and makes great friends.
A simple easy read- without beginning belittling. Sentences throughout the book generally state their point quite clearly and effectively. I liked the simplicity, I liked it so much because it is nice to only have to read a paragraph once to understand it and it is completely lovely, when a author decides I'm not going to beat around the bush, no I'm just going to simply tell the story as it should be told.
I liked the simple theme that the author used; the theme of not fitting in -being regarded as "different" and sometimes branded as a "freak", but finally embracing your differences in the end and loving yourself for them. It is a good message for children, that standing out from a crowd- isn't always a bad thing.
Unfortunately , two problems arose: a) At some points I found myself skimming over pages and not paying much attention to the story but that could be due to tiredness or just down to my easily distracted self...b) Often, when a small disaster is going to happen or other occurrences, there are often subtle hints a page to a page and a half before it happens. The problem with these hints, is that they are far too obvious, luckily it isn't just one big twist that is ruined but some of the smaller ones...
The beginning of this slightly reminded me of the start of Harry Potter and the Camber of Secrets just regarding a normal family who hated anything out of the ordinary.
I adore stories that are made for children, because of the fast pace which the writers have to use, if they want to keep their young readers entertained, the simplicity used - no deep symbolism thank you very much and just the very fun themes that are regularly used. This book is no exception. John Boyne mushed all of the above things together - which I appreciate about children's fiction and as a result I found it very much worth reading.
The book is quite fast paced which is appropriately needed for the target audience. It achieves a fast pace because of all the wonderful things that happen in this book; Barnaby Brocket goes on an awful lot of exciting adventures, meets and helps people along the way and makes great friends.
A simple easy read- without beginning belittling. Sentences throughout the book generally state their point quite clearly and effectively. I liked the simplicity, I liked it so much because it is nice to only have to read a paragraph once to understand it and it is completely lovely, when a author decides I'm not going to beat around the bush, no I'm just going to simply tell the story as it should be told.
I liked the simple theme that the author used; the theme of not fitting in -being regarded as "different" and sometimes branded as a "freak", but finally embracing your differences in the end and loving yourself for them. It is a good message for children, that standing out from a crowd- isn't always a bad thing.
My Cat Catch Book Rating Scale above- I really liked it (4/5 cats)
Cat Cat Rating Scale- http://minstrelcrazy.blogspot.ie/p/reviews.html
Unfortunately , two problems arose: a) At some points I found myself skimming over pages and not paying much attention to the story but that could be due to tiredness or just down to my easily distracted self...b) Often, when a small disaster is going to happen or other occurrences, there are often subtle hints a page to a page and a half before it happens. The problem with these hints, is that they are far too obvious, luckily it isn't just one big twist that is ruined but some of the smaller ones...
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