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Although the book is set in England, the premise is that the English pound is being switched over to the euro. Even though the novel is written in Damian's perspective, it seems like their is still this barrier between the emotions and what is actually happening. Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc. Damian seems adventurous because he explores around the town to find the saints he is looking for and the crooks who stole the money. Funny, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining, this outstanding novel was a deserving winner of the 2004 CILIP Carnegie Medal.
We bought this book for our 'level 6' class because Mrs Sedgwick's mum (who is a librarian) said it was well-written and demanding. It's a personal thing, and probably unique to a smaller group of 10 year olds, but my son really struggled to follow the story line because of the way the dialogue is tagged - that means that it doesn't say "he said" or "said Jamie" or "said the Teacher", etc. Most of the novel was upbeat and cheerful because the boys were doing a lot of good deeds with all of their money and there weren’t that many major problems throughout the majority of the book. This is a wonderful read for all ages, and thought not super Christmassy, I am still adding it to my December repertoire. There is selflessness and selfishness throughout the story and what is right and wrong becomes tested.
Damian and his brother, Anthony, have recently lost their mother, and their father is doing all that he can to raise them well. Other than that, though, Millions was a good read, and I recommend it to people looking for a fairly challenging book.
All I can tell from Frank Cottrell Boyce based on his jacket info is that he looks like Alan Cumming's brother and he has 7 kids.
Some parts were a little outlandish, but that's often the case with children's books so it didn't bother me. An edge of my seat read that would be enjoyed by upper elementary and middle school kids, if ever I could get it past the censors. I thought the story was ok because it was touching but not to the point of other stories that are out there.
Beside winning the Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, [2] [3] Millions made the shortlists for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Branford Boase Award. It was such a pleasure to meet you both, and I really appreciated how smoothly and professionally you ran everything.Anthony and Damian Cunningham are two English school boys and together with their combined knowledge of saints and money they must overcome many obstacles. Extremely funny and well written book about a boy who, following the death of his mother, has become fixated on saints. It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize. At the end, Anthony says, “And so they failed to make proper use of their once in a life time investment opportunity and they all regretted it ever after.
This edition of Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Carnegie Medal-winning Millions features fantastic cover artwork from the brilliant Steven Lenton. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Rather, I wanted the author to take any sort of stand instead of leaving the issues of responsibility, charity, and honesty so murky. While I adored Damien's saint-fixation and his brother's promiscuous obsession with finance, I felt the book ending with some moral ambiguity. I liked the ending because I thought it was very eye opening and that the theme was a very important lesson to learn.
I don't read children's fiction very often, but this one was recommended to me so I thought I'd give it a whirl.