Frank's second novel, Framed, was published in September 2005 and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Prize.

Now taller than most adults and sporting a new batch of stubble, he's mistaken for the new teacher on his first day of grade 7 at a new school. I've had this ARC sitting on my shelf for a few months now, and if I'd known how much fun it would be and how much I'd like it, I would have read it as soon as I got it. COSMIC is the story of how Liam finds himself masquerading as an adult and a father and leading a quartet of his peers -- including his own friend/pretend daughter, Florida Kirby -- into space on a privately organized (and secret) mission. Since he looks about thirty, Liam and his classmate Florida have great fun doing things that kids can only do with adult supervision - until his dad, a taxi driver, catches him about to test drive a Porsche. Also, kind of wild, but this book is quite a bit less out-there now than it was when it came out 10 years ago.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. He is also the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, Cosmic, Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy and Runaway Robot. Like most tweens, he decides to take advantage of this situation, which results in an outlandish excursion to China for the world's largest roller coaster. The difference of course being that in Big the boy can go back to looking like a kid and in Cosmic Liam will just have to grow into his. I loved the storytelling and the humour, but most of all I loved the space scenes and the description of that experience of seeing the world from far far above.

Your words, like your reviews, bring books to life and give them a voice before the front cover is even turned. Other reviewers have said it's a better book than Cosmic - considering how much I enjoyed this, perhaps I should read Millions too. All that practice at pretending to be Florida's dad comes in very handy when he wins a competition to be among the first people to visit a new, state-of-the-art space-themed theme park in China. Liam has to pose as a dad to his slightly younger (by a few months) friend during the trip, and his trials and tribulations as a "parent" are often hilarious.This edition of Cosmic includes bonus material and discussion questions from Frank Cottrell Boyce and features fantastic cover artwork from Steven Lenton. 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.