Showing results by author "Frank Cottrell-Boyce" in All Categories

Liam has always felt a bit like he’s stuck between two worlds.This is primarily because he’s a 12-year-old kid who looks like he’s about 30. Sometimes it’s not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it’s just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around.

When the Tooting family finds an old engine and fits it to their camper van, they have no idea what kind of adventure lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary car, and it wants its bodywork back! But as the Tootings hurtle across the world rebuilding the original Chitty, a sinister baddie is on their trail - one who will stop at nothing to get the magnificent car for himself.

Prez knows that the best way to keep track of things is to make a list. That's important when you have a grandfather who is constantly forgetting. And it's even more important when your grandfather can't care for you anymore, and you have to go live with a foster family out in the country.

After serving in the First World War, Milne wrote a number of well-received plays, but his greatest triumph came when he created Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and, of course, Christopher Robin, the adventurous little boy based on his own son. Goodbye Christopher Robin inspired the film directed by Simon Curtis and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, and Kelly Macdonald. It offers the listener a glimpse into the relationship between Milne and the real-life Christopher Robin, whose toys inspired the magical world of the Hundred Acre Wood.

When the Tootings return to Zobrowski Terrace at the end of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, they find that home is looking a lot like Jurassic Park. But this is no theme park - a very real and very hungry Tyrannosaurus rex is charging them! Thanks to Dad inadvertently yanking Chitty's "Chronojuster" lever, the spirited car has flown them back to prehistoric times, where the family - and especially Baby Harry - has a narrow escape.

The Tootings are stuck in 1966! Somebody has stolen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and left them behind - but that's not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is that Little Harry has been kidnapped by whoever stole their magical car. There's only one solution: the Tootings must find the Potts - the family that originally built Chitty.

A few things to know about Dylan: He is the only boy in his entire Welsh town, so forget about playing soccer. His best friends are two pet chickens. His family owns the world's only gas station/coffee house: their pies are to die for, but profits are in the hole. Criminal instincts run in his family: his sister is a mastermind-in-training, and the tax men are after his father for questioning.

It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem: they have only 17 days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are closing in - fast.

When Alfie goes to Airport Lost Property, he finds more than he bargained for. A lot more. Because there's a giant robot called Eric hidden away on the shelves. Eric has lost one leg and half his memory. He's super strong but super clumsy. He's convinced that he's the latest technology, when he's actually nearly 100 years old and ready for the scrap heap.

When the Tooting family find a vast abandoned engine and fit it to their camper van, they have no idea of the adventure that lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary flying car - and it wants to be back on the road again...fast! The Tootings can haul on the steering wheel and pull the hand brake as hard as they like, but their camper van now has a mind of her own. It's not long before they're hurtling along on a turbocharged chase as Chitty tracks down her long-lost bodywork.

Rory Rooney likes to be prepared for anything. That sort of planning pays off when you're the smallest kid in your class. Rory is even prepared (mostly) for Tommy-Lee, his nemesis, who starts most days by throwing Rory out of the back of the school bus. Don't be scared, his favorite book says, be prepared. And Rory aims to be. What's more heroic than that?

Can classmate Julie protect the brothers from vanishing? With warmth and humor, Carnegie Medalist Frank Cottrell Boyce transports readers from the steppe of Mongolia to the streets of Liverpool in an immigration tale that is compelling, miraculous, and often laugh-out-loud funny.

Eleven-year-old Noah sneaks along on his big sister's geography field trip. Everything goes wrong! Six kids are marooned on an uninhabited island. Their teacher has vanished. They're hungry. Their phones don't work, and Noah has broken the internet. There's no way of contacting home... Disaster! Until Noah discovers a treasure map and the gang goes in search of gold.

Like the creation myths they supersede, the revelations of science are seared into our collective imagination through storytelling. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, vivid accounts of scientific discovery help us understand the principles behind each theory, and add to the larger narrative of how the universe works, and how we came to be here. This anthology draws out and distils science's love of narrative from a wide range of scientific disciplines, weaving theory into very human stories.

Find out why it's not easy being green in the hilarious new story from Frank Cottrell Boyce: The Astounding Broccoli Boy! Rory Rooney likes to be prepared for all eventualities. His favourite book is Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared, and he has memorized every page of it. He could even survive a hippo attack. He knows that just because something is unlikely doesn't mean it won't ever happen.... But Rory isn't prepared when he suddenly and inexplicably turns green.

One of a series of plays by British screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce looking at the punk generation three decades on, with each play telling a different, but connected, story. In Parallel Lines, Julie is a singer in an ageing Blondie tribute band. An invitation to the reunion of the audience at an Adverts gig in 1977 brings some skeletons dancing from the cupboard. Starring Doon Mackichan as Julie, with Sian Reeves, Rosie Cavaliero, Ivan Kaye, Paul Viragh, Joseph Tremain, Sarah Bedi, John Rowe and Ben Crowe.

Uh-oh! Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is stuck in reverse. And Little Harry's pressed a button that means she's reversing through time - with the Tootings aboard. When they finally come to a stop, it's at the feet of a very hungry-looking T. rex. How are the Tootings - and Chitty - going to get out of this one? More fun, fast, feel-good adventure with the world's greatest car...driven by the world's most hapless family.

The Blythes are a big, warm, rambunctious family who live on a small farm and sometimes foster children. Now Prez has come to live with them. But, though he seems cheerful and helpful, he never says a word. Then one day Prez answers the door to someone claiming to be his relative. This small, loud stranger carries a backpack, walks with a swagger and goes by the name of Sputnik. As Prez dithers on the doorstep, Sputnik strolls right past him and introduces himself to everyone in the household.

Here's a bittersweet story about the perils and pleasures of pounds and pennies. It will make you laugh and cry. Two bothers, Damian and Anthony, are unwittingly caught up in a train robbery during Britain's countdown to join the Euro. Suddenly finding themselves with a vast amount of cash, the boys have just one glorious, appalling dilemma - how to spend it in the few days before it becomes worthless.

Liam is too big for his boots. And his football strip. And his school blazer. But being super-sized height-wise has its advantages: he's the only eleven-year-old to ever ride the G-force defying Cosmic rollercoaster - or be offered the chance to drive a Porsche. Long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space. Is Liam the best boy for the job? Sometimes being big isn't all about being a grown-up.