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Boy In The Tower by Polly Ho-Yen (view source)
Revision as of 11:49, 18 August 2020
, 11:49, 18 August 2020no edit summary
<metadesc>Expert book reviews and recommendations, with books from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and children's books plus author interviews and top tens. {{infoboxPAGENAMEE}}</metadesc>{{infobox1
|title=Boy In The Tower
|author=Polly Ho-Yen
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Wonderful, wonderful story about a lonely boy, his agoraphobic mother and building-eating plants. That could never work, right? Wrong! It's a must -read and you won't ever have read anything quite like it before.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|date=July 2014
|isbn=0857533037
|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>0857533037</amazonuk>|amazonusaznuk=<amazonus>B00IG3Z1KC</amazonus>0857533037|videoaznus=B00IG3Z1KC
}}
'''Shortlisted for the 2015 Waterstones Children's Book Prize: Best Fiction for 5-12s'''
'''Shortlisted for the Children's Book Award 2016: Books for Younger Readers'''
Ade loves living on the top floor of his tower block. He and his mum can look out of their window and see the whole city stretching out before them. They see busy little ants of people below them and marvel at the tiny tubes of aeroplanes above them. But Ade's mum has stopped looking out of the window. She's stopped cooking meals and singing songs. She hasn't been out of the flat in months and spends most of her time asleep in bed. Ade isn't sure why, but he does his best to take up the slack.
While the plot is part sci-fi, part fantasy and part dystopian, this little book is really a fable. It has a dreamlike quality and it's about love, friendship, loyalty and sacrifice. I loved it and I think you - whoever you are, whether you're aged eight or eighty - will love it, too. ''Boy In The Tower'' comes highly recommended by me. I think it might even be my favourite story of 2014 so far.
You might also enjoy [[The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson]] or [[Catcall by Linda Newbery]], both of which feature children under great pressure. For more deceptively simple stories with powerful subtexts, try [[The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett|The Silver Donkey]] and [[The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett|The Midnight Zoo]], both by Sonya Hartnett. You might also enjoy [[Where Monsters Lie by Polly Ho-Yen]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0857533037}}