Hodder Literature: a new and exciting series of literature titles for Key Stage 3 for whole class use. It's 1962 and Bobby Burns is bracing himself for the beginning of term. Not only is he starting at the cheerless grammar school but his dad is mysteriously ill and the Cuban Missile Crisis threatens to trigger off nuclear war - things are changing in his sleepy Keely Bay. But then he's got his friends to help him, all fearless in their own ways: his old friends, tough guy Joseph Connor and the wonder-working Ailsa Spink; and his new ones, Bohemian Daniel Gower and the fire-eating street performer McNulty. With thoughts of power, pain, death, war and friendship swimming around in his head, Bobby must come to terms with both injustice and hope at home, school and in the world outside of Keely Bay.

 

This book is part of a book series called Hodder Literature .

This book is suitable for Key Stage 3. KS3 covers school years 7, 8 and 9, and ages 12-14 years. A key stage is any of the fixed stages into which the national curriculum is divided, each having its own prescribed course of study. At the end of each stage, pupils are required to complete standard assessment tasks. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.

There are 208 pages in this book. This book was published 2005 by Hodder Education .

David Almond has written many award-winning books including 'The Fire-Eaters', 'Skellig' and 'Kit's Wilderness'. He has won the Gold Smarties Award and the Carnegie Medal.