There’s nothing unusual about the Brockets. Normal, respectable, and proud of it, they turn up their noses at anyone strange or different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it’s clear he’s anything but ordinary. To his parents’ horror, Barnaby defies the laws of gravity – and floats. Desperate to please his parents, Barnaby does his best to keep both feet on the ground – but he just can’t do it. One fateful day, the Brockets decide enough is enough. They never asked for a weird, abnormal, floating child. Barnaby has to go …
I’m liking
Part Harry Potter, part Roald Dahl, it’s easy to sympathise with Barnaby Brockett in The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket. His adventures take him around the world and he meets a veritable menagerie of eccentric characters.
This book is also illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, and I *love* his images.
Things that made me go hmmmm
I really wanted to like this book and it started well but I got, well, a bit bored by it. It felt like each encounter was the same as the last and the ‘moral’ was a bit heavy-handed for me.
The conclusion
Much has been made of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Boyne’s first book, and I know that a second book is always a challenging thing but this book really wasn’t for me.
