Noah's Gold

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Noah may be younger than the others, but he worries that they’ll find out the internet breaking might be his fault (seems that this island houses some very important cables). His sister is pretending she doesn’t know him, their teacher disappears, nobody knows how to source food without Alexa… and what’s this about a treasure map?

Cottrell Boyce does come up with some marvellous concepts. Stolen art, bags of money, children going into space… master of the ‘wow! Gotta try that’ synopsis. Our main character Noah sneaks on to the minibus of his sisters geography school trip with with her year 9 friends & the teacher. However things take a turn for the worse literally due to a dodgy sat nav & they find themselves stranded on a small island where Noah is outed & then he accidentally manages to switch off the internet!.This is where the book really changes as we see the panic of the children who can't use their phones and have no communication, it shows the element of reliance especially as they then loose the teacher. The friendship group were so heartwarming to read about and there was also some interesting discussions of living without technology too. It’s great to see these kinds of stories being so popular with children. Then they will laugh at the adventures of the children struggling on using only their own wiles and brains: “I don’t know how Henry VIII died. I don’t know what those birds are called. I didn’t know you were supposed to put a message in the bottle. I won’t know anything until the phones work again!”Joyous writing. Wonderful characters. Authentic humour. Heart & soul. So Much Fun. And, oh, the dialogue! Just love it! Pure class’ Jenny Pearson, author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates This is an adventure story interwoven with some comical and thought provoking elements. Young Noah accidentally finds himself caught on a geography school trip with his older sister and some fellow year 9 students; through the naivety of their teacher they find themselves stranded on a small island where accidentally young Noah “ switches off “ the internet and thus chaos ensues. They are stranded without communication . What is comical and striking ( and worthy of family and class discussion ) is how the youngsters are so dependent on the internet and social media within their lives for survival, knowledge and communication. When confronted with a dial- up phone box, all sorts of confusion arises. Noah’s creation of a treasure map to distract the group and the subsequent discovery of gold all ads to the adventure. Noah, his sister and four of her classmates end up marooned on a tiny island with no grown ups and no way to get home. And it also seems as if Noah might have accidentally broken the internet. It is time to see what happens when people have to stop looking at their phone.

Noah creates a treasure map to distract the group and then gold is actually found but who’s is it?. Frank Cottrell-Boyce is one of those “gem of an author” who knows how to tap into what young people want to read and enjoy.Cosmic and Billions are classic stories and Noah’ s Gold should be added to this list. His second book, Framed was inspired by a news story he’d read in an old scrapbook: During the Second World War, a collection of valuable paintings from the National Gallery was hidden in a slate mine for safekeeping. He couldn’t resist imagining how all of that great art might have affected the people who lived near the mine. Millionswas was later turned into a film by Danny Boyle and it features in the Book Trust’s 100 Best Books List for 9-11 year olds. Can Noah become the 'wee gem' that the others believe him to be? Can he keep them alive AND fix the internet? By dropping a series of letters, to his parents, into the island's mail box, Noah explains his plans step by step… but will anyone receive them?Frank's first book, Millions, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004 and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2004. Millions has also been made into a movie directed by Danny Boyle. Frank's second novel, Framed, was published in September 2005 and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Prize. It was made into a BBC feature-length film in 2009. Frank's third novel, Cosmic, was published in June 2008. It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize. The book is illustrated by Steven Lenton and I liked the illustrations because they aren’t too detailed but you can still see what’s going on really well. Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a children’s novelist and screenwriter who won the Carnegie Medal for his first book – Millions– in 2004 and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for The Unforgotten Coat in 2013. Millions was made into a film by Danny Boyle, for whom Frank went on to work as the writer on the London Olympics Opening Ceremony, 2012. Being shortlisted for the Guardian Prize gives you a particularly warm glow because it is awarded by a panel of your fellow authors. Past winners include my childhood heroes - Alan Garner, Leon Garfield, Joan Aiken - and contemporary heroes like Mark Haddon, Geraldine McCaughrean and Meg Rosoff.”

This story begins uncertainly with a small group of modern primary school children somehow becoming stranded on an uninhabited offshore island without adult support. But Frank Cottrell Boyce is a master of his craft, and once into his stride disbelief soon fades away. Witty but also with some serious points to make, endlessly imaginative, never predictable, this is story-telling at its best. The chapters are written as letters between Noah and his parents, and the fact that they seem strangely calm – maybe even amused – at Noah’s Lord of the Flies-style situation gives it a real sense of the absurd. There’s also a gentle message about the value we can find in everyday things when we are forced to put our phones and laptops away, and the firm friendships that take hold in times of uncertainty.Frank is also a successful writer of film scripts and was the official scriptwriter for the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, playing an important role devising the ceremony with Danny Boyle. He is also a judge for the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition. You can read a great interview with Frank and one of his fellow judge, Francesca Simon here! I loved this unlikely group, who were so much fun to read about and had some great interactions. Noah made such a funny narrator with a lot of honesty that I think so many kids will relate to. The illustrations were so good and complemented the story so well too. This one is definitely an adventure story at it’s heart, and I really enjoyed blasting through it and seeing where it was going to go.

Noah's Gold has that perfect mix of reality and then something a little bit magical. The characters are great and Cottrell Boyce's character description is especially elite here. See: "Have you noticed, by the way, that Eve is always asking questions and then answering them herself before you get a chance?". It's so simple but it just tells you so much about the character. Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. But will Cottrell Boyce show us just what they can do when self-reliant? Read it and find out. And laugh, as I did. I loved the overall message here; yes, you miss things if you spend all your time buried in the internet, but it is useful for things as well. And that ending...leading us to a sequel, maybe, Mr Cottrell-Boyce? I do hope so! I'd love to spend some more time with these characters. Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12...Second; this is a brilliant story. It's told mostly in letters from Noah to his parents (and grandmother? I was unclear about that.) with a few replies from them and a couple of other items thrown in as well. Noah's a great narrator, funny and serious with a wonderful eye for detail. (Golden Fury! I'll be calling it that forever. My grandchildren will think I'm crazy, but I will persist.) My favourite character is Mr Merriman, their teacher, who always treats everything like a school trip and does not seem to be bothered that they are stranded on an island in the middle of the sea.