In addition, with my teacher hat on, there are lots of themes to explore: modern poverty, shame, family relationships. In Noah's Gold, a school field trip to an online retailer's warehouse (the humorously named Orinoco Company, in a nod to the behemoth online company named after another South American river) goes awry when the satnav attempts to direct them to the Orinoco River, leading the minibus off the coast of Ireland and via ferry to a deserted island.

Your selection was perfect for our children and what really made the difference was your ability to engage with each child, discuss their interests and help them to choose a suitable book based on your extensive knowledge of the books you were selling.I bet this would be a great class read for a Y5 or 6 class - it’s fun and relatable with lots of dilemmas to discuss, including whether some aspects of life might be better without the internet. Their summary was 'a teacher gets lost on the way to a school trip, they get stuck on a deserted island, the teacher goes missing and the children are stranded' I said it sounds like my nightmares before school trips! 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). Packed with mystery, adventure and laughs, Noah’s Gold is the exciting novel from the bestselling, multi-award-winning author Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Author spun a clever story around our children's use of their phones and what happens when they have to go back and do things in an old fashioned way, ultimately figuring out along the way that it's a fun and adventurous way to go about life. There’s always a buzz of excitement in the air when a new Frank Cottrell-Boyce book hits the shelves and the award-winning author certainly strikes gold with this rip-roaring adventure. However, instead of going to the Wonder Warehouse they find themselves marooned on an "island in the middle of the sea".Perhaps I missed it, but it did make me stop and think why it had happened (other than as a natural chapter break). Despite one in three children in the UK estimated to be living in poverty, the realities of growing up poor just aren't reflected in the majority of books for children and teens. 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.