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Tom Kelly
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Media
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Book
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Publisher | Macmillan Children's Books | ||
ISBN | 978-033044455 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
Ten-year-old Danny knows he's going somewhere, but he just doesn't know where. On his way he ...flattens a stuffed otter (with a three-holed brick) ...messes with a dog called The Beast (who bites kids' willies off) and feeds biscuits to blue Louis (who puts the 'poo' into poodle). But however far or fast he goes, Danny can't outrun the memories that have chased him ever since his identical twin brother died. Where can Danny hide when every day his own face reminds him of Finn? And where can Danny go when everywhere the shadows of his past stretch to forever? This is the poignant story of a bereaved boy who embarks on an emotional journey - and ultimately finds his way home.
Review
'The Thing with Finn' by Tom Kelly is a strange book - but not so strange when you think of what young lads used get up to when they used to play out around the back streets of the villages and towns.
I imagine this story to be set in somewhere in the back streets of Leeds or Sheffield, as seen on the Hovis advert. I can just see this young lad Finn and his friends trying to wind up the street's manic dog.
Some of the things he and his mates get up to are just so crazy, the poor lad is obviously very lost without his twin brother (who we don't discover about until the end of the book), I know how that feels to be left behind without your twin. (I lost my twin brotherDavid at the age of 13 in an aircrash with all his classmates.) It is really quite easy to understand the things he does to gain the attention of his family.
This book is written in simple short spurts of Finn's life. The crazy things that he did and why he did them.
I understood the sentiment and the stupidity of the acts that Finn got upto. I love the way that Tom Kelly has written it in this way - this is the way that many young children react to the death of a sibling when they do not really understand what is happening. This helps you understand the distress that a twin feels because to a twin it is like having a limb torn away from you and not knowing how to cope.
Tom Kelly's debut book is well written and deserves to go far, well done when can we expect some more.
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