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Gr 7-Up It's 1962, and 12-year-old Bobby and his mom leave their small, seaside village in the north of England for a day trip to Newcastle. There, Bobby is staggered by his encounter with Mr. McNulty. This odd little man is his own wandering sideshow; he pierces his cheeks with a dagger, escapes from shackles, and breathes fire in exchange for coins. At home, Dad recognizes McNulty as a fellow veteran of World War II, who came home from Burma with his brain boiled by "too much war, too much heat, too many magic men." Meanwhile, Bobby enrolls at the prestigious S...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Almond sets his portrait of a world suspended on the brink of disaster in a small, deteriorating town in northern England. In 1962, with the Cuban Missile Crisis looming, adolescent Bobby Burns finds himself at a watershed point, intensely aware of endings (his father may be seriously ill) and beginnings (he is entering a new, select Catholic school). Amid TV and newspaper images of JFK and Krushchev and mushroom clouds, Bobby and his family share a heightened awareness of the beauty and wonder around them, standing quietly on the beach at dusk, "the sea...stretched like burnished metal." At sc...Log In or Sign Up to Read More