I was looking for a new Christmas set novel to read and Robison Wells recommended this. I've seen the movie, but didn't know that it was a book. Apparently they were written at the same time, as Frank Boyce was originally a screenwriter. Frank was asked by the Fleming Estate to write the official sequel to Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2012.

Millions is about two young brothers who come across millions of pounds and their decisions on what they do with it. There is selflessness and selfishness throughout the story and what is right and wrong becomes tested. We follow Damian and Anthony (brothers) through everything they do with the money before the day when the pound gets changed for the Euro. This article needs a plot summary. Please add one in your own words. ( March 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Cottrell Boyce won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best children's book published in the UK. [2] [3] Millions was an integral part of the annual Liverpool Reads campaign in his home city. [4] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Funny, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining, this outstanding novel was a deserving winner of the 2004 CILIP Carnegie Medal.

He adapted the novel into a screenplay for a 2009 BBC television film. His 2009 novel Cosmic has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Damien is a fourth grade student in England on the brink of the (imaginary) Pound/Euro currency changeover. Obsessed with the lives and demises of saints since the death of his mother, Damien attracts a great deal of negative attention and warranted concern around his community. Millions focuses on what Damien and and his brother choose to do with a great deal of money that suddenly falls in their laps. As the boys spend the money, lots of products are mentioned approvingly, though they don't bring much satisfaction.

I actually listened to the audiobook, which was even more hilarious than the book, due to the great voice of the narrator. (Being American, I wouldn't have been able to imagine the sound of the annoyed protagonist telling his older brother that his cardboard hideout isn't a den, but "an hermitage.") They way Frank Cottrell Boyce describes the events that unfold, to me, seems detached. 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. Many good novels are good because of how they make a reader feel. Millions doesn't give me any types of feelings; it's more of a retelling of a story that happened with someone else- like the person telling the story can't show the emotions of the characters because s/he wasn't there and therefore didn't experience it. Other than that I think Millions was well written, and the characters were portrayed in different interesting lights. The author unravelled the mysteries and tied any loose endings very well.

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It's a story about 2 brothers who are each dealing with the loss of their mother in different ways, and a father who reminds them to be excellent. The younger brother (and narrator) Damian tries his best to be excellent and to do good work every day. His heart is in the right place, but sadly the execution doesn't come off like he thinks it will. His older brother, Anthony, focuses on the almighty Pound/Euro, and is an excellent liar. Dad is just trying his best to keep a roof over their heads and teach the boys to be excellent.