Book description
A boy runs across a busy road.
His father smacks him.
A passer-by intervenes ...
When Billy Wright runs across a busy road, his world is altered irreversibly, even though he doesn't realise it at the time.
Because a passer-by has stopped to watch the scene. She has seen Billy's…
Why read it?
1 author picked What I Did as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Billy’s family gets caught up in the care system when the six-year-old narrator is smacked by his father. An only child surrounded by adults, Billy emulates the talk of others but mishears and repeats language incorrectly with hilarious results. Malapropism sees Billy using the word copulating instead of cooperating, he loves sayings but transcribes them incorrectly giving us a different cuttlefish rather than a different kettle of fish. Through Billy’s voice, readers are securely within the mind of a child. Extended periods of internal monologue and interrupted using an em dash to indicate speech. Questions directly to the…
From Gail's list on contemporary adult novels with young narrators.
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German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
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