Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth was shortlisted for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal and selected for the inaugural WHSmith Tom Fletcher Book Club. Although the dry, sarcastic humour which appealed to me so much may go over younger children's heads, the plot will appeal to all of KS2. Bronnie is so lovely with the boys and we also felt that having a man enthusing about the books set a great example.

He couldn’t resist imagining how all of that great art might have affected the people who lived near the mine. This wacky, comical, entertaining tale reels its way through to the final rescue involving foil blankets and hot chocolate. The characters are engaging and believeable (although I maintain they're younger than we're told), and the story bobs along nicely. There was something just slightly off kilter about the whole thing, a weird tinge of horror almost, although I don't think kids reading it would be chilled in the way I was.

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.

As worrying matters escalate, a treasure map is discovered and then the unthinkable – a stash of gold bullion is found. Children the world over will be horrified at the idea of having to survive without the Guidance of Google at their fingertips. Although according to his parents he is also the one who has broken the internet, which is no longer working and they refuse to allow him home until he fixes it. Thereafter, further disaster strikes, for he’s forgotten to apply the handbrake and the mini bus is teetering on a cliff edge… It seems that the minibus has arrived in a place of confusion. While I can't speak for the other examples I just gave (because I haven't read them, and won't read them, so don't even think of asking), Noah's Gold works, thanks in no small part to Frank Cottrell-Boyce's wit.

Very funny with lots of serious messages about us all being addicted to our phones and the internet woven throughout. 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? 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. Told in letters that are mainly written by Noah to his parents in which he shares all about what the children have been up to over the course of five days (and nights), which includes foiling a robbery.

It seems that Noah’s Gold is like other best-selling, beloved titles from Frank Cottrell-Boyce in that it is hugely readable and thoroughly funny. When the teacher takes them the wrong way, they lose the rest of the class and somehow end up on an uninhabited island. It is filled with adventure and characters that are very believable, especially when you realise how much they relied on technology to get by and didn’t know what some natural items were as they didn’t have labels on them. Noah’s Gold is a hilarious story of one young boy who has become trapped on an island with a group of students who are not prepared for being stranded with no food, water, heat, etc.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. I haven't charted out my visits for the summer term, but I'm sure there are several in the south) and thanks so much for being so fantastic! It also mentions the family’s need to use a food bank and the way the parents make it sound as if they’ve won a competition. 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.

Add in a treasure hunt and the need to fix the internet and what you end up with is a fast paced, humorous story of survival without the benefits of modern technology. Frank Cottrell-Boyce has created a brilliantly sympathetic and funny character in Noah, and his insecurity about being the smallest, the youngest, and the person seemingly responsible for everything going wrong makes him a wonderfully relatable hero.a funny and life-affirming tale about co-operation and resourcefulness, with a Blytonesque hidden-loot subplot thrown in. I love fantasy and all that and I can tell this is viewed for younger people but none of it was adding up.