Millions

Product Information

Long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space. The conflict in the book is for Damian and Anthony to find a way to get rid of the money in seventeen days because it is in the old form of money and the money system is changing to a new one( Euros). Ever since Damian’s mom died he always believes in saints because he thinks it will get him closer to his mom.

It is good for a school novel study and also for anyone wanting a quick simple read during their free time. A wonderful, sweet story told by a 5th-grade boy who just happens to see long-dead saints everywhere he looks. Because the story is told from the sweetly naive perspective of Damian, it is filled with many silly but poignant observations.

Obsessed with the lives and demises of saints since the death of his mother, Damien attracts a great deal of negative attention and warranted concern around his community. It's mostly funny though sometimes sad, watching Damian struggle to be a good person while providing a nifty commentary about money, inflation, economy and investment (completely implausible, but still great! One of the focuses of that obsession has become an interest in saints -- the lives of which populate both his imagination AND several of the key scenes in this book. There's just one problem -- they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless.

Another book which makes me wish goodreads allowed me to use 1/2 stars because this book is worthy of more than three but less than four. The novel Millions takes place in the early 2000s in the suburbs of London, England and is about two young brothers in middle school and their father. Damien is a fourth grade student in England on the brink of the (imaginary) Pound/Euro currency changeover. Funny, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining, this outstanding novel was a deserving winner of the 2004 CILIP Carnegie Medal. This was a really cute story about growing up, and learning about how great (and burdensome) money can be.When he prays for guidance and a giant bag of money falls out of the sky, he figures God has sent it. I think this story worked because the book showed both before and after the characters gained all the money and it made me see that the characters were more likable in the beginning of the novel. Millions doesn't give me any types of feelings; it's more of a retelling of a story that happened with someone else- like the person telling the story can't show the emotions of the characters because s/he wasn't there and therefore didn't experience it. Damian's mother has recently died, and he has become obsessed with the lives of the Saints, learning about them, emulating them, even seeing them in visions.

The boys’ are scared she is going to replace their mom when Dorothy makes lasagna from scratch just like their mom used to and they don’t want a new mom. Boyce expresses how giving money accumulates to good deeds, which signify rungs on the ladder to heaven, just like the saints on their way to canonization. I don’t think I would make any major changes because there wasn’t much wrong with the book however if I had to change something it would be to build suspense and add action because I found the book very bland and not very exciting. I actually listened to the audiobook, which was even more hilarious than the book, due to the great voice of the narrator. Through this novel The brothers are facing a newer, harder challenge everyday and as the saying goes "what goes up must come down" this is the perfect description of the Cunningham brothers journey, The money is giving them everything but it is also losing everything good they had especially when glass eye comes along.Damian is convinced it is a gift from God, and contemplates with his older brother Anthony the best way to spend it. Most of the novel was upbeat and cheerful because the boys were doing a lot of good deeds with all of their money and there weren’t that many major problems throughout the majority of the book. This is a wonderful read for all ages, and thought not super Christmassy, I am still adding it to my December repertoire.