Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018 | Longlisted for the UKLA 2018 Book Award
March 2017 Debut of the Month In a sparely written but richly imaginative story, Chloe Daykin sensitively explores what it feels like to see the world just a bit differently. Billy loves the sea and uses swimming as a way of escaping the difficulties of his unwell mother. But his love of the sea also makes him the butt of his class mates’ jokes as it marks him out as different. Billy increasingly creates an alternative world for himself inspired in part by the lessons about animals that he has learnt from David Attenborough’s programmes. But when a new boy arrives in the class Billy finds someone who understands him. Fish Boy is a debut novel to savour. ~ Julia Eccleshare
The Branford Boase Judges said : 'the friendship between two outsiders is very touching indeed’; ‘a unique internal voice beautifully described’; ‘interesting and surprising'.
People call me Fish Boy. My skin goes up and down like the waves. My mind goes in and out like the sea. They say I've always got my mouth open, that I ask too many questions. But what's wrong with that?Billy's got a lot on his mind - that he'd rather not think or talk about. So he watches David Attenborough, because Sir David's asked all the questions and got all the answers, and swims in the sea, just letting his mind drift . . .So when new boy and nature fan Patrick Green starts at school with 'fingers like steel, strength of a bear' and a mackerel swims up to Billy's face, blows bubbles into his Vista Clear mask goggles and says: 'Fish Boy', Billy knows he can't keep it secret, because . . . a crazy talking mackerel changes EVERYTHING.Shimmering with almost-magic and adventure, this is an exceptional read.Accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Richard Jones.
An artist, designer, award-winning playwright and teacher, Chloe Daykin lives down a bumpy track by a river in Northumberland with her husband and two boys. Her debut, Fish Boy, won the Northern Writers Award, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and was published to huge critical acclaim. This is her third for middle grade readers.
