Broccoli Boy saves the world
Broccoli-Boy saves the world ( English original title: The Astounding Broccoli Boy ) is a children's book by the British author Frank Cottrell Boyce , which was published by Carlsen Verlag in 2016 in a translation by Salah Naoura into German . The original English edition with illustrations by Steven Lenton was published by Macmillan Children's Books in March 2015 .
content
Rory Rooney lives in Birmingham with his parents and sister Ciara and is in seventh grade at Handsworth High. Rory does not have an easy time in school, he is the smallest in his class and is bullied by his classmates. Tommy-Lee Kommisky in particular is after Rory. He steals his food, puts it upside down in the trash can and doesn't miss a chance to terrorize Rory. After Tommy-Lee has an allergic reaction to the nuts in Rory's chocolate cake and cannot attend school for the time being, his best friends and henchmen Kian and Jordan announce that they will take revenge on Rory on the upcoming school trip. On the school trip, Rory shares a kayak with Kian and Jordan and they throw it into the river. When he left the river, the color of his skin changed. Rory is now green.
He is flown by helicopter to a hospital in London and taken to an isolation ward , as doctors suspect that the change in his skin color has something to do with the virus called "Killer Kittens". Rory is separated from his family and is now by the doctor Dr. Brightside trying to find out what caused his skin color to change. Rory is shocked to find that he is not the only one on the isolation ward. He shares the room with Tommy-Lee, who has also turned green.
Dr. Brightside does a series of tests every day with the boys who seem to come to terms with the situation after initial and especially interpersonal difficulties. At night, Rory notices that Tommy-Lee is sleepwalking. Tommy-Lee knows the door codes and Rory follows him to the roof. Tommy-Lee falls off the roof and Rory tries to save him. He's certain he'll teleport and be with Tommy-Lee in milliseconds. Together, the two end up in a window cleaner gondola, not far from the roof of the house.
After this incident, Rory is strengthened in his belief that he and Tommy-Lee are superheroes. Each additional night the two leave the isolation ward and experience adventures in the city. You try to rob a bank and accidentally end up in a nightclub called "The Bank", have an accident with a stolen garbage truck and release all the animals from the zoo. In doing so, they do not notice that they will leave the city in a huge mess as soon as they go back to the isolation ward in the morning. On one of their trips they meet the girl Koko Kwok, who has also turned green. They smuggle her and a penguin, whom they baptize Peter, to the isolation ward. The three start a superhero group and set out to save the city.
When they finally break out of the isolation ward and mingle with a school class on a boat trip during the day, they are caught by the police. Now Rory realizes that the whole city thinks the three are aliens and was looking for them. Rory and Koko are taken to the Prime Minister , only Tommy Lee can save himself by jumping off the boat into the water and swimming away.
Rory and Koko try to find a solution with the Prime Minister to explain to the city that the three are not aliens, but normal children. Through the news, Rory learns that Tommy-Lee is on a crane on The Shard , the tallest building in London. He decides to run away and save Tommy-Lee, while Koko decides to stay with the Prime Minister and his colleagues and continue working on an explanation. The Prime Minister follows Rory and accompanies him to the skyscraper. In a complicated and exciting rescue maneuver, Rory manages to get Tommy-Lee down from the crane.
Dr. Brightside explains that the change in skin color was an allergic reaction to the "Killer Kittens" virus and that Rory, Tommy-Lee and Koko were immune to it. Through her research and with the blood of the children, she was able to develop a vaccine that will save all people who are infected with the "killer kittens" virus. The book ends with Rory attending a Christmas party in Birmingham with his family and Tommy-Lee.
reception
- Reviewed in The Times on March 21, 2015
- Reviewed in The Guardian on April 11, 2015
Web links
- Author's website at Macmillan Children's Books
- Publishing website for the book
- Interview with the author Frank Cottrell-Boys about the book , Northern Soul , March 25, 2015
- Reading from the book on Kid's Corner at the 2015 Hay Festival