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31st out of 73 books
—
49 voters
Millions
It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem -- they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cash in the first place are...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
July 26th 2005
by HarperCollins
(first published August 1st 2004)
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Millions has been on my to-read list for a long, long time. I remember that the first time I decided I wanted to read it, I stumbled upon the German edition in a bookstore. Little did I know back then that I wouldn't end up loving it like I expected but rather feel pretty indifferent about the story and the characters.
You know, the premise of the book is a good one. What would you do if a sack full of money literally fell from the sky? I was curious to see how the author would execute the idea b...more
You know, the premise of the book is a good one. What would you do if a sack full of money literally fell from the sky? I was curious to see how the author would execute the idea b...more
I saw and loved the movie before I read and loved the book. The clerk at Bank Street Bookstore promised that if I didn't mind Damian's constant musing about religion and saintliness I would love the story, but warned me some people are bothered by seeing so much religion in a kid's book. I thought it was fascinating to have saintly visitations happening alongside a heist adventure. Damian's obsession with "being excellent" made him an unusual and memorable main character whose circular, well-int...more
This is one of those children's books that seems to be operating on two levels. Although I do think it would appeal to the more intelligent readers in the 10-13 age group, a lot of the humour and commentary is probably aimed more at an adult level of understanding. (The real estate and financial commentary of the protagonist's older brother, Anthony, is one example that comes to mind.)
There are two major plot points: Damian (the protagonist) and Anthony are trying to cope with the recent death o...more
There are two major plot points: Damian (the protagonist) and Anthony are trying to cope with the recent death o...more
A wonderful, sweet story told by a 5th-grade boy who just happens to see long-dead saints everywhere he looks.
Damian and his brother, Anthony, have recently lost their mother, and their father is doing all that he can to raise them well. Damian’s coping mechanism for his mother’s death is to read everything he can about the lives of various saints. Anthony, however, becomes a bit of a financial guru. When a huge bag stuffed with more than 200,000 quid comes flying out of the sky and into Damian...more
Damian and his brother, Anthony, have recently lost their mother, and their father is doing all that he can to raise them well. Damian’s coping mechanism for his mother’s death is to read everything he can about the lives of various saints. Anthony, however, becomes a bit of a financial guru. When a huge bag stuffed with more than 200,000 quid comes flying out of the sky and into Damian...more
Feb 01, 2012
Roger DeBlanck
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
juvenile-books
Millions is a fun book, full of wild and also touching emotion. The main character, Damian, is fascinated with saints. Boyce does a nice job of balancing the serious elements of grief with bits of humor that add up to a compelling tale of coming-of-age and growing up. The book also raises issues of the best way to help the poor. Throughout the story, Damian is troubled with how to give and where to donate money. He turns to his saintly visions for guidance, and his heart is always in the right p...more
Nov 18, 2011
Kathy
added it
Millions
Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Reviewer:Cierra Kitt
Damian and his brother Anthony move in with their father because their mom died. Ever since Damian’s mom died he always believes in saints because he thinks it will get him closer to his mom. I think he is still shocked about it because he always says “My Mum’s dead”. Everyone always tells him that “She’s is a better place” (pg. 39). Damian goes to the hermitage (a place he likes to go to pray about his mom). While he is there a bag full...more
Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Reviewer:Cierra Kitt
Damian and his brother Anthony move in with their father because their mom died. Ever since Damian’s mom died he always believes in saints because he thinks it will get him closer to his mom. I think he is still shocked about it because he always says “My Mum’s dead”. Everyone always tells him that “She’s is a better place” (pg. 39). Damian goes to the hermitage (a place he likes to go to pray about his mom). While he is there a bag full...more
Notes: The Cunningham brothers literally have money drop in their laps when a bag of cash falls from the sky; however, the crooks who initially stole the loot are hot on the trail to retrieve it.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8–When fourth-grader Damian finds a bag full of cash by the train tracks, he and his brother try to spend it fast. The bills are all pounds, and England is just a few weeks away from converting to the euro, so anything they don't use will, in their minds, soon be worthl...more
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8–When fourth-grader Damian finds a bag full of cash by the train tracks, he and his brother try to spend it fast. The bills are all pounds, and England is just a few weeks away from converting to the euro, so anything they don't use will, in their minds, soon be worthl...more
Sep 05, 2011
Minli
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
middle-grade,
contemporary
Saw this film a few months back, and knew the screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce as the author of Cosmic, which I adored. The film was good, if a tad unapproachable. I totally understood Damian's obsession with saints after his mother passed away, and his need to be pious and excellent. It's a little weird, don't get me wrong. Some kids have an obsession with baseball stats and others can name every species of frog, so... yeah.
Damian, his dad and his older brother Anthony move to a new house. Dam...more
Damian, his dad and his older brother Anthony move to a new house. Dam...more
I think this was meant to be a feel-good family drama about the effects of money on individuals and society, but is just felt negative and wrong--I never felt that the taking of the money was right or justified in any way and to have every character attempt to justify it and take and spend it without any consequences was just something I couldn't get past. The Mormons, specifically Mormon missionaries, played a role in the story and while the bit that seemed to have been copied directly from a s...more
All I can tell from Frank Cottrell Boyce based on his jacket info is that he looks like Alan Cumming's brother and he has 7 kids. But seriously, who IS this guy? I love his books.
I saw the movie of this one years ago and kind of forgot about it. Damian and Anthony are brothers and they've just moved into a new neighborhood. Damian is obsessed with saints and builds himself a little hermitage to live in down by the railroad tracks. Then a big bag of money falls off a train and as he and his br...more
I saw the movie of this one years ago and kind of forgot about it. Damian and Anthony are brothers and they've just moved into a new neighborhood. Damian is obsessed with saints and builds himself a little hermitage to live in down by the railroad tracks. Then a big bag of money falls off a train and as he and his br...more
Jun 27, 2012
Ela
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ya-realistic-fiction,
carnegie-winners
This is a generous 3, this book veers more towards a two if I'm honest.
THe ending was quite sweet and their were so amusing lines but on the whole I was...uninspired.
I didn't really feel any particular attachment to the characters and the story line was tedious, towards the end it gained speed and got better; but a small part of that might have been that the end was in sight.
I liked some of the principle of this book: can money buy happiness etc, but I just felt that it wasn't done particularly...more
THe ending was quite sweet and their were so amusing lines but on the whole I was...uninspired.
I didn't really feel any particular attachment to the characters and the story line was tedious, towards the end it gained speed and got better; but a small part of that might have been that the end was in sight.
I liked some of the principle of this book: can money buy happiness etc, but I just felt that it wasn't done particularly...more
What would you do if a million dollars dropped out of the sky…right into your yard?
When a bag of money drops into Damian’s hideout, he has some urgent questions. Where did it come from? Whom should he tell? What should he do with it? Damian, who does his best to be good all the time and tries to model his life after his favorite saints, decides the money is from God and should be spent helping the poor. His big brother Anthony, who is more concerned with real estate and the economy, has differen...more
When a bag of money drops into Damian’s hideout, he has some urgent questions. Where did it come from? Whom should he tell? What should he do with it? Damian, who does his best to be good all the time and tries to model his life after his favorite saints, decides the money is from God and should be spent helping the poor. His big brother Anthony, who is more concerned with real estate and the economy, has differen...more
Jun 29, 2011
Emmet O'Neal Library- Children's Department
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
humor,
realistic-fiction
What would you do if a million dollars dropped out of the sky…right into your yard?
When a bag of money drops into Damian’s hideout, he has some urgent questions. Where did it come from? Whom should he tell? What should he do with it? Damian, who does his best to be good all the time and tries to model his life after his favorite saints, decides the money is from God and should be spent helping the poor. His big brother Anthony, who is more concerned with real estate and the economy, has differen...more
When a bag of money drops into Damian’s hideout, he has some urgent questions. Where did it come from? Whom should he tell? What should he do with it? Damian, who does his best to be good all the time and tries to model his life after his favorite saints, decides the money is from God and should be spent helping the poor. His big brother Anthony, who is more concerned with real estate and the economy, has differen...more
The story told through slightly-unbalanced Damian's eyes is wonderful and interesting. His obsessions and motivations throughout the book are more than the average child's - making him the perfect compelling main character for a story about finding unmarked millions. The story works the concept of finding the money from excitement to opportunity to burden to danger. The way characters in the book - like Anthony and dad - react differently towards the money allows for a realistic reflection of wh...more
I don't read children's fiction very often, but this one was recommended to me so I thought I'd give it a whirl.
It's a story about 2 brothers who are each dealing with the loss of their mother in different ways, and a father who reminds them to be excellent. The younger brother (and narrator) Damian tries his best to be excellent and to do good work every day. His heart is in the right place, but sadly the execution doesn't come off like he thinks it will. His older brother, Anthony, focuses on...more
It's a story about 2 brothers who are each dealing with the loss of their mother in different ways, and a father who reminds them to be excellent. The younger brother (and narrator) Damian tries his best to be excellent and to do good work every day. His heart is in the right place, but sadly the execution doesn't come off like he thinks it will. His older brother, Anthony, focuses on...more
When a giant bag of money seemingly falls from the sky into Damian's lap just before the change over from pounds to euros, Damian and his brother race to spend all of the money before it becomes worthless. Struggling between their wants (Sunny Delight for everyone! New bikes!) and a sense of moral responsibility to give to others, the boys have adventures in disposing of the cash. I loved the two brothers in this book, Damian, very contemplative and naive, and Anthony, a little sneaky but genera...more
I saw this movie a few years ago, but reading the book made me realize I remember almost nothing about it. This sort of modern-day fairy tale tells the story about a precocious English boy named Damian with a keen interest in Saints. He stumbles across a bag full of hundreds of thousands of pounds, just weeks before it's going to be replaced by the Euro. Their single father totally unaware, Damian and his older brother Anthony decide to try to spend what Damian firmly believes is a gift from God...more
I gave this two stars because I don't feel like the author did his "homework" very well and misrepresented missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (of which I am a member and was a missionary for). Aside from that, the whole Pounds to Euros story line threw me off because England didn't ever go to Euros. Turns out it is meant to be a fictional scenario so no harm no foul there.
There was one part I really could have done without where Damian and his brother are trying to...more
There was one part I really could have done without where Damian and his brother are trying to...more
Oh I was very disappointed with this book because I love love love FCB as do the kids I run reading groups with. This one was just odd and whilst I love an odd book that eventually gets somewhere I felt this one somewhat let me down. Yes it tackled bigger "issues" - death, dealing with loss, monetary union, greed and friendship but it just didn't work for me. In fact it seemed to spend too much time dealing with these issues to the detriment of the story. It could have been such a great book as...more
this is one of my favorite books!! the 1st person narrative is one of THE BEST i have ever read. its very sweet and hilarious. this is a MUST READ. the movie is actually really really good, does credit to the book
1 like · like · see review
Picked this up as a possible read for my library book club and boy, was it not the right thing. Socially awkward boy who is obsessed with the lives of the saints finds approximately 229,000 pounds in a bag by the train tracks. With his brother, they must figure out how to spend or dispose of the money in a short time, since the currency is about to change over to the euro and will soon be worthless. I thought this book was too British for American kids (the whole currency change would be very co...more
what will you do if there was a bag full of money dropped down for you?
Damian and Anthony Cunningham suddenly found themselves rich. very very rich. they could buy plenty of candies. in fact, they could buy the shop! Damian, potrayed to have strong faith in kindness, planned ways to spend the money in saintly ways; while Anthony pursued intelligent ways of investing it.
they could just turn their worrld with the money they owned. the problem was, they only had days to spend it all. along with th...more
Damian and Anthony Cunningham suddenly found themselves rich. very very rich. they could buy plenty of candies. in fact, they could buy the shop! Damian, potrayed to have strong faith in kindness, planned ways to spend the money in saintly ways; while Anthony pursued intelligent ways of investing it.
they could just turn their worrld with the money they owned. the problem was, they only had days to spend it all. along with th...more
This book was really good. It is about a couple of kids who end up with one million dollars and they can not think of what to do with it. It was really fun to read and i would most likely read it again.
1 like · like · see review
Apr 05, 2012
Rosemary
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ultimate-teen-guide
When a bag full of cash drops from the sky into Damian’s hideout, he is not surprised. His main interest is the lives of the saints, and he assumes the money has come from God for him to distribute to the poor. His brother Anthony, however, has other ideas. So the two boys try to spend thousands of pounds in the few remaining days before Britain switches to the euro. It proves to be harder than you might think.
This is a cute story about two boys aged around 10 and 11 years old who have lost thei...more
This is a cute story about two boys aged around 10 and 11 years old who have lost thei...more
I have enjoyed every book I have read by Frank Cottrell Boyce. He writes fast moving quirky stories with lots of heart. This book reads like a mad cap comic adventure/mystery/coming of age tale but is also a study in childhood grief and as is usual for this author the father son relationship is central to the plot . Damien's literal take on life, his pure heart, and his obsession with the lives of catholic saints is classic Cottrell Boyce and is both hilarious and poignant.
GREAT book for middle...more
GREAT book for middle...more
A few years ago I watched the movie directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and really enjoyed it. So when I stumbled across the audio book at the library I picked it up. I hadn't realized the movie was based on a book and so I figured I'd give it a shot (and for those wondering, the movie is a very good, true-to-the-book adaptation.)
It is a delightful book, set in a future, yet present-day England and is the story of two boys dealing with morals and the difference between right and wrong...more
It is a delightful book, set in a future, yet present-day England and is the story of two boys dealing with morals and the difference between right and wrong...more
I love this book! Great read with a feel good factor built in... Enjoyed the film too! I love the kid's imagination and the contrasting characters of the two brothers as they face the dilemmas of their predicament and continue to develop coping strategies. It seems like the author uses this relationship to demonstrate the tensions that can exist within a person as well as being a realistic portrayal of family relationships. It is very touching to see the way the family pull together and show dee...more
Love the story, suppose to be a children book, but is a great read for adult too. Love the plot, from the narrator, Damien's obsession with Saints (which was revealed at the end of story was due to him missing his dead mother) to how he accidentally found the millions of cash to how he, his brother, his friends in school, his father even the whole neighbour reacted to the money. Reveals the great evil of money and to what extreme people can act to posses the money. An unreal make up story, but v...more
I really reading enjoyed "Millions." It has a great premise--finding a bag full of money that you can't tell anyone about and have to spend in a short amount of time or it's worthless--and a narrator, Damian, that's extremely likable. Even Damian's obsession with the saints, which could easily feel weird, works as a recurring point of interest and a way to underline thematic elements. I think author Cottrell does a great job balancing humor, loss, and more sinister elements. He really creates a...more
Ala-astetta käyvä ja pyhimyksistä tavattoman kiinnostunut Damian Cunningham istuu erakkomajassaan kun 229 370 punnan seteliä sisältävä säkki putoaa yhtäkkiä hänen niskaansa. Onko kyseessä jumalainen ihme vai kenties sittenkin rahoja kuljettavan junan ryöstöyritys? Ja mitä ihmettä rahoilla pitäisi tehdä - auttaa niillä kenties köyhiä kuten pyhimykset ainakin, vai kenties laittaa raha poikimaan ennen kuin setelit muuttuvat euroon siirtymisen myötä kasaksi arvotonta paperia, kuten kokoomusnuorta mu...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Teenz Book...: 'Millions' by Frank Cottrell Boyce of which we have multiple copies in Halton Libraries for online book group members | 6 | 6 | Jan 25, 2013 03:46am | |
| Looking for a FABulous new author?? | 1 | 1 | Jan 08, 2013 11:15am | |
| Trivia Question | 3 | 5 | Apr 13, 2012 08:11pm | |
| your chance to interview Frank Cottrell Boyce | 1 | 5 | Mar 18, 2010 01:42pm |
Frank Cottrell Boyce is a British screenwriter, novelist and occasional actor.
In addition to original scripts, Cottrell Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction, winning the 2004 Carnegie Medal for his debut, Millions, based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name.
His novel Framed was shortlisted for the Whitbread Book of the Year as well as the Carne...more
More about Frank Cottrell Boyce...
In addition to original scripts, Cottrell Boyce has also adapted novels for the screen and written children's fiction, winning the 2004 Carnegie Medal for his debut, Millions, based on his own screenplay for the film of the same name.
His novel Framed was shortlisted for the Whitbread Book of the Year as well as the Carne...more
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“Where's Dorothy?" Dad said.
"I don't know. She came in, took the money and went. I don't even know how she got in."
"What did she say?"
"She said "shush""
"And what did you say?"
"I shushed”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
"I don't know. She came in, took the money and went. I don't even know how she got in."
"What did she say?"
"She said "shush""
"And what did you say?"
"I shushed”
Jul 12, 2012 01:24pm