Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth Award-winning team by Frank Cottrell Boyce (author) and Steven Lenton (illustrator)

Shortlisted for the 2017 Carnegie Medal and selected for the Tom Fletcher Book Club, Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell-Boyce is an adventure about the Blythes: 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. The family all think Sputnik is a dog and chaos is unleashed as suddenly household items come to life – like a TV remote that fast-forwards people and a toy lightsaber that entertains guests at a children’s party, until one of them is nearly decapitated by it – and Prez is going to have to use his voice to explain himself.

As Sputnik takes Prez on a journey to finish writing his guidebook to Earth called Ten Things Worth Doing on Earth, each adventure seems to take Prez nearer to the heart of the family he is being fostered by, but they also take him closer to the day that he is due to leave them forever . . .

This edition features fantastic cover artwork and black and white inside illustrations from the incredible Steven Lenton.

Product Details

Catalogue number

402 in Primary 2024

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9781529008814

Publisher

Macmillan Children's Books

Date published

February 7th, 2019

Other details

352 pages

Condition

New

Author/Illustrator

Frank Cottrell Boyce

Frank Cottrell Boyce is a screenwriter whose films include Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie and Millions, which was also his first book. He has also written episodes of Coronation Street and Brookside, so you probably know his stories from your TV set. He also wrote the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony! His first children’s book Millions won the Carnegie medal, and was made into a film by Danny Boyle. He used to run a Punch and Judy show, earning a fortune in small change, and just like Damian in Millions, he is a Catholic who is fascinated by stories of the saints. He is not a millionaire and has no plans to rob a bank! However, during a short-lived career as an assistant at a puppet show, he earned a fortune entirely in small change. He believes this is how he first became interested in the problems created by user-unfriendly cash. Just like Damian in Millions, he is a Catholic who is fascinated by stories of the saints.

His second book, Framed was inspired by a news story he’d read in an old scrapbook: During the Second World War, a collection of valuable paintings from the National Gallery was hidden in a slate mine for safekeeping. He couldn’t resist imagining how all of that great art might have affected the people who lived near the mine.

Frank lives in Liverpool, with his wife and family of seven children.