KIDS’ BOOK OF THE WEEK

NOAH’S GOLD

by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, illustrated by Steven Lenton, Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback £12.99 (ebook £7.49) ★★★★✩

Full of mischief and adventure, Noah Moriarty is pretty much like any other young boy – and is based on author Frank CottrellBoyce as a child.

Noah’s Gold tells of the adventures of being shipwrecked on a remote island. Readers find out what it’s like to be stranded without food and resources, with only a group of fellow schoolchildren and a bunch of ruthless robbers for company.

But, worst of all, the author shows you how desperate it is to be left without modern life’s essential: the internet.

You get to feel how awful life is when you have to resort to writing letters, or, if you can work out how to use them, telephone boxes.

With a nod to classics like Lord Of The Flies and Treasure Island, this is a rip-roaring tale of buried treasure.