Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the main characters, children, steal a valuable painting. They return it and there are no real consequences. The unabridged audio version is read by Jason Hughes.
Families who read this book could discuss art. Can it really change people's lives? If so, how? Or is it just decoration? What makes something art? Do you agree with Lester? Also, why aren't the kids punished for committing a major crime? Families may be interested in looking at the paintings mentioned in the book, all helpfully listed at the end.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
FRAMED has much in common with the author's first book, Millions . The story is told by a young boy who is endearingly naive, and who understands less than the reader about what is really going on. He is missing a parent, and doing the best he can with his limited understanding to make things better for everyone. And his well-meaning but clueless actions change not only his family, but his town.
Normally this might be taken as a criticism, but if it's a formula, it sure is a brilliant one (or as Dylan would say, "it's hectic. Legend, even."). It's that matter-of-fact, daffily sensible, quixotically goodhearted voice that has the reader grinning from start to finish (all right, maybe not from the start -- this story takes a bit too long to get going). Add in a large supporting cast of delightfully eccentric characters, a small town with hidden beauty, the transformational power of art, and a good caper, and you get one of the most enjoyable books of the year.
From The Book
But we know all about him. He was a famous art thief and we used to be in the same line of work. My sister Minnie even had a picture of him on her bedroom wall. She reckons that when Vincenzo stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum in Paris on August 21, 1911, that was the most immensely perfect crime ever. The Mona Lisa was the world's most famous painting, but Vincenzo did such a neat job no one even noticed it was missing for two days. Then they did notice, and everything went mental. Everyone went to the Louvre to look at the empty space where the painting had been. They lined up to look at an empty space! Even Vincenzo Perugia lined up. And when they got to the front of the line, they all looked at that empty space and thought about what used to be there. I can understand that. Sometimes something vanishes, and afterward you can't stop looking at the place where it used to be.
Plot Summary:
A synopsis of this book is rather beside the point, but here goes. Dylan lives with his sisters and parents, and is the only boy in a small, rainy town in Wales. They run a small garage, the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel, on the brink of insolvency. Dylan is obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as is Tom, the man who tried to rob them, and whom they hire instead.
Then a series of seemingly unrelated events starts to change things in their lives and community. A car they bought to fix and sell disappears, and soon after so does their father. A group of men in vans moves into the abandoned quarry on top of the mountain where, it turns out, they are storing art from the National Gallery to protect the pieces from floods in London. And their leader, hearing that Dylan has named his chickens Donatello and Michaelangelo (after the Turtles), thinks Dylan is an art genius. But it's really his younger sister who's a genius, as she shows when she plans a heist of one of the paintings hidden in the quarry.
Related Books:
Also by Frank Cottrell Boyce:
Millions
More Art Mysteries:
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett
Related Web Sites:
National Gallery
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Sexual ContentNude paintings mentioned. |
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ViolenceA mention of a little boy crushed by a car. |
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Social BehaviorChildren steal a painting. |
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CommercialismCandy bar, car, toy brands mentioned. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCigarettes are mentioned. |
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