This book is unusual because at the start of almost every chapter David Almond talks to the reader about how the story might develop so you immediately feel involved with the characters and think of different possible story lines. It's an absolutely riveting read!

Stanley Potts' life started badly. His parents died so he lives with his Auntie Annie and Uncle Ernie. Things get really bad when Ernie loses his job and, desperate to support his family, starts a fish canning business which takes over the house so Stan has to sleep in a cupboard.

Stan visits a fair on his birthday and becomes entranced by the beauty of the goldfish on the Hook-a-Duck stall. He manages to acquire some goldfish but when Ernie cans them too he runs away to join the fair. As he travels he meets many unique people and makes a special friend, Nitasha, the daughter of the Hook-a-Duck stall owner, Dostoyevsky. Stan discovers that he has the ability to do things he never dreamed of.

I loved the fast pace of this book and characters who do amazing things because they have good hearts. Stanley reminded me of Sir Galahad in Tennyson's poem, "My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure" You will meet the villains of the story, The Department for the Abolition of Fishy Things.

I wondered whether David Almond was thinking about how the government seems to want everybody to be the same. I thought that DAFT could stand for Department for the Abolition of Free Thinking. I thoroughly recommend this book to readers of all ages. It just might open your eyes to what you can achieve if you believe in yourself.

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