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Bored #1
Milo Finds $105
Sometimes feeling bored is just the beginning ...
Hi, I'm Milo, and right now I'm chasing $105 as it flies down my street. The wind is blowing it towards Evie Watson's house, which is very bad news. It's also making for some pretty awkward running.
My neighbours, Rocco, Luisa and Zak, must be laughing their heads off. And who knows what's happening with the new kid next door. His name is Frog and he's invented his own type of martial art, which he's not very good at even though he made it up.
Finding this much money should have been a good thing, but it's turning into a disaster!
From million-copy bestseller Matt Stanton, author of FUNNY KID and THE ODDS, comes a hilarious new series about the complicated business of being a kid.
PRAISE
'Milo Finds $105 is about friendships and how they can morph and evolve, and ... how first impressions are not always what they seem. The language between the kids is authentic and there is a strong sense of family in the book ... The chapters are short and engaging, which may inspire confidence in reluctant readers. Stanton, author of FUNNY KID and THE ODDS, looks to have produced another winning series'- Books+Publishing
'all the sharp wit, funny dialogue and all round good times that we expect and love from a Matt Stanton experience but oh my heart, it was nostalgic, very clever with all the feels and the perfect book to help kids navigate through the complicated business of being a kid' - Gleebooks
Hi, I'm Milo, and right now I'm chasing $105 as it flies down my street. The wind is blowing it towards Evie Watson's house, which is very bad news. It's also making for some pretty awkward running.
My neighbours, Rocco, Luisa and Zak, must be laughing their heads off. And who knows what's happening with the new kid next door. His name is Frog and he's invented his own type of martial art, which he's not very good at even though he made it up.
Finding this much money should have been a good thing, but it's turning into a disaster!
From million-copy bestseller Matt Stanton, author of FUNNY KID and THE ODDS, comes a hilarious new series about the complicated business of being a kid.
PRAISE
'Milo Finds $105 is about friendships and how they can morph and evolve, and ... how first impressions are not always what they seem. The language between the kids is authentic and there is a strong sense of family in the book ... The chapters are short and engaging, which may inspire confidence in reluctant readers. Stanton, author of FUNNY KID and THE ODDS, looks to have produced another winning series'- Books+Publishing
'all the sharp wit, funny dialogue and all round good times that we expect and love from a Matt Stanton experience but oh my heart, it was nostalgic, very clever with all the feels and the perfect book to help kids navigate through the complicated business of being a kid' - Gleebooks
- GenresMiddle Grade
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2022
89 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Matt Stanton
70 books108 followersMatt Stanton is a bestselling children's author and illustrator, with over a quarter of a million books in print. He is the co-creator of seven bestselling picture books, including the mega-hits, There is a Monster Under My Bed Who Farts and This is a Ball. He is launching his much-anticipated middle-grade series, Funny Kid around the world in July 2017.
Email: matt.stanton@gmail.com
Email: matt.stanton@gmail.com
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 30, 2022
Torah's review
This book is like Finders Keepers. What would you do if you found $105. Milo was bored and Frog got him out of the house and thats how he found the money. I laughed so hard in this book.
This book is like Finders Keepers. What would you do if you found $105. Milo was bored and Frog got him out of the house and thats how he found the money. I laughed so hard in this book.
June 27, 2022
I had so much fun reading this with my boys along with others via The Tandem Collective (https://thetandemcollective.com/reada...). Thank you, Tandem, for organising & publisher for the copy of the book.
The novel opens with a lonely boy, Milo, with his skateboard and an ant. Such a great visual for just how bored he was! Until, of course, he spotted $105 just lying there on the ground. Woot! All the things one can do with $105!! Unfortunately, his responsible mother has a different idea on what he should do with his find... Thus begins his "adventure" wherein along the way, he formed new friendship and found a great bunch of group he can play with.
I saw the author in one of his talks during a Primary School event with Sydney Writers Festival and as he said, he loved to just twist the story this way and that and that is just what he did with this book. There were just so many twists that kept the story rolling along at an admirable pace all the way to the end. That ending... LOL!
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ...
The novel opens with a lonely boy, Milo, with his skateboard and an ant. Such a great visual for just how bored he was! Until, of course, he spotted $105 just lying there on the ground. Woot! All the things one can do with $105!! Unfortunately, his responsible mother has a different idea on what he should do with his find... Thus begins his "adventure" wherein along the way, he formed new friendship and found a great bunch of group he can play with.
I saw the author in one of his talks during a Primary School event with Sydney Writers Festival and as he said, he loved to just twist the story this way and that and that is just what he did with this book. There were just so many twists that kept the story rolling along at an admirable pace all the way to the end. That ending... LOL!
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ...
April 19, 2022
It all begins with an ant. Like the ant, Milo Kim is just hanging out alone outside on the footpath of his street. Milo doesn't know how the ant is feeling but he is BORED. When it reaches his BMX bike ramp, he decides to show off his jump skills. Sure it's only an ant, and his ramp is a piece of wood and a couple of bricks, but Milo likes to imagine himself as his bike hero Extreme Steve.
He knows he's kidding himself, and his jump is pathetic, but if not for the jump, he wouldn't have found it. The money.
It's just lying there. One hundred and five dollars! Two notes. One hundred. One five. This find changes everything for Milo. His mum says he should find the owner. Liz, his other mum, says Finders Keepers!
As Milo begins to ask the neighbours, they offer ideas of whose it could be. Milo has decided that $105 could buy a very nice evening with the girl he loves. But for that to happen he would actually have to finally speak to her on the school bus. There is a new kid (called Frog) in Milo's street, and Frog has his own theories of where the money came from.
Throw in some more tween wisdom from kids at school and suddenly Milo is dealing with a Brazilian Jujitsu champion, furniture thieves, an escaped convict, and Russian spies. He wishes he'd never found the money in the first place!
From the author of the hilarious Funny Kid and Fart Monster books, this is the first in a new series. We meet Milo who is quiet and shy, and also missing his big brother Henry who has joined the military. Milo has a problem, and without Henry to ask he's really not sure what to do. The other kids in his street have lots of advice and suggestions which spiral into the unthinkable, but maybe possible, in the homes surrounding them.
I loved the way the problem grew bigger and bigger with the other kid's input, and how their imaginations fed off each other, turning a problem into international proportions. The truth however was even better, and Milo's developing courage heart-warming. The resulting bike ramp idea shows perfectly how far Milo has come, even though flying off the end goes well and disastrous at the same time.
A little different from the Funny Kid series, Bored reminds me of Jerry Spinelli's style and middle-grade characters, in the way they get to know each other. They've never talked much, if ever before, but with a common goal, they problem solve and become friends without overthinking it.
Great read!
He knows he's kidding himself, and his jump is pathetic, but if not for the jump, he wouldn't have found it. The money.
It's just lying there. One hundred and five dollars! Two notes. One hundred. One five. This find changes everything for Milo. His mum says he should find the owner. Liz, his other mum, says Finders Keepers!
As Milo begins to ask the neighbours, they offer ideas of whose it could be. Milo has decided that $105 could buy a very nice evening with the girl he loves. But for that to happen he would actually have to finally speak to her on the school bus. There is a new kid (called Frog) in Milo's street, and Frog has his own theories of where the money came from.
Throw in some more tween wisdom from kids at school and suddenly Milo is dealing with a Brazilian Jujitsu champion, furniture thieves, an escaped convict, and Russian spies. He wishes he'd never found the money in the first place!
From the author of the hilarious Funny Kid and Fart Monster books, this is the first in a new series. We meet Milo who is quiet and shy, and also missing his big brother Henry who has joined the military. Milo has a problem, and without Henry to ask he's really not sure what to do. The other kids in his street have lots of advice and suggestions which spiral into the unthinkable, but maybe possible, in the homes surrounding them.
I loved the way the problem grew bigger and bigger with the other kid's input, and how their imaginations fed off each other, turning a problem into international proportions. The truth however was even better, and Milo's developing courage heart-warming. The resulting bike ramp idea shows perfectly how far Milo has come, even though flying off the end goes well and disastrous at the same time.
A little different from the Funny Kid series, Bored reminds me of Jerry Spinelli's style and middle-grade characters, in the way they get to know each other. They've never talked much, if ever before, but with a common goal, they problem solve and become friends without overthinking it.
Great read!
April 26, 2022
Ever wondered what you’d do if you found a heap of cash lying on the ground? I must confess, a few years ago whilst working on a campsite in Switzerland I did find an incredibly large bundle of notes on the ground and aged twenty-four I didn’t know how to resolve my ethical conundrum…find the owner, leave the money on the ground or keep shtum. Thankfully, a rather worried little boy returned to the scene and I was able to reunite him with his large wad of holiday spending money.
Finding money in the street means ‘Finders, keepers’ right? After Milo finds $105 on the road outside his house, he is left with the ultimate dilemma…what to do with it. Stepmom Liz tells him to keep it but his actual mum suggests finding the rightful owner. But returning lost money is a lot harder than it should be and once the kids from the neighbourhood get wind of Milo’s find they all have their own ideas about what should happen to the cash. It isn’t long before things rapidly turn into a disaster and the $105 is the least of Milo’s problems…
From Matt Stanton, the author of the laugh-out-loud Funny Kid and The Odds books, comes the first in another hit series that takes a very funny look at ‘the complicated business of being a kid.’ Bored: Milo Finds $105 is the tale of an unassuming, everyday kid caught up in a very real dilemma. Delivering excitement, intrigue and humour, Stanton turns the most mundane of occurrences into something much more and you certainly get your money’s worth. Milo would tell you that he got much more than his money’s worth and it really wasn’t worth it (unlike Stanton’s book which really is worth it).
What starts off as the world’s most boring day - so boring that Milo is following an ant around - quickly becomes an interesting and funny mystery as Milo, with the help of the other kids who live in the same cul-de-sac, try to identify where the money came from and who it belongs to. It should be straight forward given the lack of possibilities in Turtle Place but false claims, funny plans, snooping around and plenty of neighbourhood tween chatter soon have Milo worrying about organised crime, dodgy dealings, Russian spies, criminals, martial art experts and furniture thieves, and rapidly wishing he’d never actually found the money in the first place.
Without his older brother, who is serving with the army, Milo is an anxious character who is unsure how to fix his problem and finds himself at the mercy of the kids on his street. There’s the insanely confident new-kid-on-the-block and expert of a very weird martial art, Frog (who has a few secrets of his own); bully and keen claimant of the money, Rocco; siblings Luisa and Zak; and then there’s Evie Watson - a girl that Milo would love to go on a date with, perhaps he could spend the $105 on that. With only a passion for the money in common, the kids who have never talked much before forge friendships and problem solve like only kids that live on the same block can.
Funny stories set in your typical neighbourhood are all always going to be a hit with kids and the truth is that Milo’s experience could happen to anybody. Having fun, making friends and coming up with the ridiculous to explain the everyday are all central to the fast-paced action that plays out across several short and punchy chapters. The action will return to Turtle Place in book two with a story told through the eyes of Frog.
With huge thanks to Harper Collins and ABC for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.
Recommended for 7+.
Finding money in the street means ‘Finders, keepers’ right? After Milo finds $105 on the road outside his house, he is left with the ultimate dilemma…what to do with it. Stepmom Liz tells him to keep it but his actual mum suggests finding the rightful owner. But returning lost money is a lot harder than it should be and once the kids from the neighbourhood get wind of Milo’s find they all have their own ideas about what should happen to the cash. It isn’t long before things rapidly turn into a disaster and the $105 is the least of Milo’s problems…
From Matt Stanton, the author of the laugh-out-loud Funny Kid and The Odds books, comes the first in another hit series that takes a very funny look at ‘the complicated business of being a kid.’ Bored: Milo Finds $105 is the tale of an unassuming, everyday kid caught up in a very real dilemma. Delivering excitement, intrigue and humour, Stanton turns the most mundane of occurrences into something much more and you certainly get your money’s worth. Milo would tell you that he got much more than his money’s worth and it really wasn’t worth it (unlike Stanton’s book which really is worth it).
What starts off as the world’s most boring day - so boring that Milo is following an ant around - quickly becomes an interesting and funny mystery as Milo, with the help of the other kids who live in the same cul-de-sac, try to identify where the money came from and who it belongs to. It should be straight forward given the lack of possibilities in Turtle Place but false claims, funny plans, snooping around and plenty of neighbourhood tween chatter soon have Milo worrying about organised crime, dodgy dealings, Russian spies, criminals, martial art experts and furniture thieves, and rapidly wishing he’d never actually found the money in the first place.
Without his older brother, who is serving with the army, Milo is an anxious character who is unsure how to fix his problem and finds himself at the mercy of the kids on his street. There’s the insanely confident new-kid-on-the-block and expert of a very weird martial art, Frog (who has a few secrets of his own); bully and keen claimant of the money, Rocco; siblings Luisa and Zak; and then there’s Evie Watson - a girl that Milo would love to go on a date with, perhaps he could spend the $105 on that. With only a passion for the money in common, the kids who have never talked much before forge friendships and problem solve like only kids that live on the same block can.
Funny stories set in your typical neighbourhood are all always going to be a hit with kids and the truth is that Milo’s experience could happen to anybody. Having fun, making friends and coming up with the ridiculous to explain the everyday are all central to the fast-paced action that plays out across several short and punchy chapters. The action will return to Turtle Place in book two with a story told through the eyes of Frog.
With huge thanks to Harper Collins and ABC for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.
Recommended for 7+.
May 21, 2025
Milo thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he finds $105 in the street. Until all the neighbours weigh in on it. Also there’s a new neighbour who doesn’t know the unwritten rules of bus stop etiquette. Childhood relationships are complicated and this story really nails that dynamic. The characters are well developed and the writing has a humorous touch.
July 16, 2022
Good 😉😄😊🙂😁😃😀 and funny 😆😋 !
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Little things turn into big things.
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Little things turn into big things.
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September 26, 2023
This was so entertaining! I didn’t expect the story to get deep but it did! Can’t wait to read the next one.
October 25, 2023
Interesting
February 11, 2024
A fun junior fiction story about friendship, integrity and the challenges of finding $105. First JF I’ve listened to as an audio book.
June 21, 2025
a road trip listen, did get bored halfway through (but committed to completion)
January 13, 2026
LOVE this book. Kids will love it, I loved it. Great underlying morals.
December 22, 2022
Matt Stanton is the Sydney-based co-creator of many humorous picture books—including There’s a Monster Under My Bed Who Farts and This is a Ball—as well as the author/illustrator of the popular middle grade series Funny Kid and the graphic novel series The Odds.
Milo Finds $105 is the first book in an early middle grade series called Bored, billed as ‘a page-turning and hilarious new series about the complicated business of being a kid’. Milo Kim, the eleven-year-old main character, is so bored he’s following an ant when the story opens… but his life becomes a lot more eventful when he finds $105 lying on the road. Suddenly, everyone has a claim on it—or an opinion about what Milo should do with it.
The story features several other kids who live in Milo’s cul-de-sac, as well as his two mums. However, it is Milo’s developing friendship with his new neighbour, Frog, that gives the story real heart and leads to Milo finding the courage to stop going along with everyone else and start being true to himself.
Milo is a somewhat anxious, introspective character who initially lacks close friends and misses his older brother, who is in the army. These references to his brother are not resolved in this book, so it will be interesting to see where that storyline goes in the future—though the back matter reveals that in the next book it will be Frog telling the story.
With very short chapters and no illustrations, Milo Finds $105 is thinner than the Funny Kid books and doesn’t have the same over-the-top humour or rollicking feel. At times, it moves quite slowly—more than twenty pages are devoted to one morning’s conversations at the bus stop, for example—but the story really comes into its own during the final third, and the satisfying ending is worth the wait. This book would suit younger readers who find hefty books daunting, but who like thought-provoking realistic fiction stories about friendship and morality.
This review was first shared on StoryLinks Australia.
Milo Finds $105 is the first book in an early middle grade series called Bored, billed as ‘a page-turning and hilarious new series about the complicated business of being a kid’. Milo Kim, the eleven-year-old main character, is so bored he’s following an ant when the story opens… but his life becomes a lot more eventful when he finds $105 lying on the road. Suddenly, everyone has a claim on it—or an opinion about what Milo should do with it.
The story features several other kids who live in Milo’s cul-de-sac, as well as his two mums. However, it is Milo’s developing friendship with his new neighbour, Frog, that gives the story real heart and leads to Milo finding the courage to stop going along with everyone else and start being true to himself.
Milo is a somewhat anxious, introspective character who initially lacks close friends and misses his older brother, who is in the army. These references to his brother are not resolved in this book, so it will be interesting to see where that storyline goes in the future—though the back matter reveals that in the next book it will be Frog telling the story.
With very short chapters and no illustrations, Milo Finds $105 is thinner than the Funny Kid books and doesn’t have the same over-the-top humour or rollicking feel. At times, it moves quite slowly—more than twenty pages are devoted to one morning’s conversations at the bus stop, for example—but the story really comes into its own during the final third, and the satisfying ending is worth the wait. This book would suit younger readers who find hefty books daunting, but who like thought-provoking realistic fiction stories about friendship and morality.
This review was first shared on StoryLinks Australia.
April 14, 2022
Milo is bored. Kicking stones up his street, he finds $105. With luck like that, he never has to be bored again.
Frog, the new kid next door, congratulates him, and they plan how to spend the money, but Mum says, he has to look for who owns the money.
Finding the owner of $105 gets way more complicated than Milo expects.
What does Milo find?
I enjoyed the humour and the complications the main character experienced. This story made me smile.
Recommended for Middle Grade and reluctant readers.
Frog, the new kid next door, congratulates him, and they plan how to spend the money, but Mum says, he has to look for who owns the money.
Finding the owner of $105 gets way more complicated than Milo expects.
What does Milo find?
I enjoyed the humour and the complications the main character experienced. This story made me smile.
Recommended for Middle Grade and reluctant readers.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews