Not many people have a bag of money dropped onto their head. But that is what happened to young Damian. The bag, stuffed with banknotes, seemed to have dropped out of the sky.
Damian isn't sure exactly how much money is in the bag, although he knows there is enough to make him very rich - enough to buy anything he wants for himself and his dad and brother. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as it sounds.
Frank Cottrell Boyce's fantastic Millions won the prestigious 2005 Carnegie Medal for children's writing and it's not hard to see why. The fresh, character-led story is told with gentleness and humour.
The book isn't about the exciting prospect of finding a million banknotes. It's about what the wonderfully drawn main character does with the money. Damian is at the centre of the story all the way through. The story is about him, not the money.
Damian is obsessed with Catholic saints and is desperate to learn about every saint that ever existed. Ever since his mum died, Damian has wanted to live a good life. He knows that if he uses saintly stories as a guide to his own life, everything will be fine. He drives his dad and brother mad with constant chatter about his favourite saints.
But along with the money comes a big problem. In seven days' time, Britain will stop using pound notes and switch to the euro. Damian's newfound wealth is all in pounds, so he has one week to spend his fortune before it becomes worthless.
Damian tells his brother about his windfall, and the two boys face the dilemma together. Caught between doing what they can to end world poverty (as any good saint would do) or spending it on themselves as fast as they can, the two boys discover that getting rid of a million or so pounds is not an easy thing to do.
