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    Framed: the perfect crime - it's a work of art
    Framed: the perfect crime - it's a work of art
    Framed: the perfect crime - it's a work of art
    Audiobook6 hours

    Framed: the perfect crime - it's a work of art

    Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce

    Narrated by Jason Hughes

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The perfect crime - it's a work of art, in Frank Cottrell Boyce's ingenious story, Framed, read aloud by actor Jason Hughes.

    Dylan is the only boy living in the tiny Welsh town of Manod. His parents run the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage - and when he's not trying to persuade his sisters to play football, Dylan is in charge of the petrol log. And that means he gets to keep track of everyone coming in and out of Manod - what car they drive, what they're called, even their favourite flavour of crisps. But when a mysterious convoy of lorries trundles up the misty mountainside towards an old, disused mine, even Dylan is confounded. Who are these people - and what have they got to hide?

    A story inspired by a press cutting describing how, during World War II, the treasured contents of London's National Gallery were stored in Welsh slate mines. Once a month, a morale-boosting masterpiece would be unveiled in the village and then returned to London for viewing. This is a funny and touching exploration of how Art - its beauty and its value - touches the life of one little boy and his big family in a very small town.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPan Macmillan
    Release dateMar 26, 2015
    ISBN9781509806027
    Framed: the perfect crime - it's a work of art
    Author

    Frank Cottrell Boyce

    rank Cottrell-Boyce is a multi award-winning children’s book author and screenwriter. Millions, his debut children's novel, won the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other books include Cosmic, Framed, The Astounding Broccoli Boy, Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, Runaway Robot, Noah’s Gold and The Wonder Brothers. He has enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with award-winning illustrator Steven Lenton. His books have been shortlisted for a multitude of prizes, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children’s Fiction Award, The Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. Frank is also a highly successful screenwriter. He has written for the hit TV series Dr Who and his script for Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom won a British Animation Award. Along with Danny Boyle, he devised the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. Frank has been the judge for the 500 Words competition and the BBC's One Show As You Write It competition. Frank is a lifelong champion of children’s books. In 2023 he launched a successful podcast with Nadia Shireen, The Island of Brilliant!, celebrating writing and illustration for children of all ages. He lives in Merseyside with his family.

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    Reviews for Framed

    4/5

    116 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Frank Cottrell Boyce aims this charming story of family and community life, from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, at tweens, but it will have adults rolling with laughter. An extremely well-crafted book, with disciplined editing, which I attribute to Cottrell Boyce's first career as a screenwriter. An immensely entertaining read, with mystery, suspense, humor, and a subtle and effective argument in favor of the supreme importance of all people.
    • 4/5
      Dylan Hughes is the only boy living in Manod, an uneventful Welsh town of drizzling grayness that Dylan thinks is full of Hidden Beauty. His best buddies are two agoraphobic chickens named Michelangelo and Donatello after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His family runs the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel garage. When the business falters, his father takes off, and Dylan, Mam, his older sister, Marie, and his aspiring criminal genius younger sister, Minnie, try to make Oasis more profitable so that Dad will return. Flooding in London causes the National Gallery to evacuate its paintings to the safety of Manod's old quarry mine. (An actual evacuation to the Manod slate quarry occurred during World War II.) Lester, the art expert in charge, takes a shine to Dylan as an art connoisseur on hearing the chickens' names. When he agrees to put one masterpiece at a time on view, the villagers' lives are changed. Minnie concocts a hilarious scheme to nick Van Gogh's Sunflowers, replacing it with a paint-by-number affair. All gets sorted out and Dad comes home.
    • 5/5
      Framed is a wonderfully quirky book about the unexpected effects of famous works of art on a small town in Wales. The book is narrated by Dylan Hughes, the only boy left in Manod so with little hope of a pickup game of soccer. Other Manod residents include the Misses Sellwood, who drive to town every Wednesday with blind Miss Elsa behind the wheel while Miss Edna steers; Daft Tom, a child-like man obsessed with the Ninja Turtles; Terrible Evans, who signals her crush on Dylan by poking him in the eye whenever he's within reach; and Dylan's younger sister, Minnie, whose fascination with crime and criminals may signal trouble ahead.Cottrell Boyce gets 9-year-old Dylan's voice just right. Dylan's Manod seems like the center of the world, and it's someplace I'd love to visit. Of course, I'll be stopping at the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel for a latte and a Crispy Choc Constable while I'm there. Maybe I'll even kick a soccer ball around with Dylan, if he wouldn't mind playing with a girl.
    • 5/5
      The storage of paintings from the London National Gallery inside an abandoned mine near the tiny Welsh town of Manod, drastically changes the dreary town where it rains all the time, and alters forever the life of Manod's only boy, Dylan, who is fond of soccer (which, being the only boy, he doesn't often get to play) and cars (which, helping at his parents' gas station, he sees a lot of), but not particularly interested in paintings. Things are especially stirred up when Minnie, Dylan's criminal-mastermind-in-training sister, decides to pull the art heist of the century. This is an entertaining story full of amusing incidents, and nine year old Dylan is a hilarious narrator, who does not always have a complete grasp on the events happening around him. For instance, Dylan befriends Lester, a Londoner who is the paintings' primary caregiver, after a mixed message conversation-- Dylan was talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but Lester thought he meant the Renaissance artists, and mistakenly concluded that Dylan was a young art prodigy; further mishaps do nothing but reinforce Lester's inaccurate view. The supporting characters are all eccentric, but still realistic. The story's greatest strength, though, is the way that one by one, the people of the town (and also Lester), are inspired by art around them and slowly begin to change Manod and their lives for the better, creating a unique story about the transformational power of art. Readers ages nine through thirteen will best appreciate the book's humor.
    • 4/5
       Dylan and his sisters have some ideas about how to make Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel into a more profitable business, but it is not until some strange men arrive in their small town of Manod, Wales with valuable paintings, and their father disappears, that they consider turning to crime.
    • 4/5
      Very cute story about how the small town of Manod is affected when the National Gallery moves its art collection to the town's abandoned quarry. Similar in style to Boyce's first book, Millions, Framed focuses on one boy's quirky perspective of Manod. This is wonderful for showing how art inspires each person who views it. The story is filled with many interesting art history facts mixed together with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and car trivia.
    • 5/5
      As an adult did I enjoy it - yes, it was okay. If I was a child would I enjoy it - definitely. This is a great book for children but not so much for adults reading children's books. Highly enjoyable, short chapters and some great characters. The author saw a press cutting describing how, during the Second World War, a collection of valuable paintings from the National Gallery was evacuated to Wales and stored in slate mines for safe keeping. He then went on to think about living on top of a mountain full of treasure. So think Tracy Chevalier then bring it down to kids level :-) If you are a parent and want to be involved in kids reading then this is a good one because it could lead to finding out a lot about different pieces of art and their artists. As a teacher, the list is endless - I think this could become a teaching book for me - there is some great stuff to get your teeth stuck in to. This could lead to all sorts of cross-curricular stuff - Science, Geography, Art, Languages (Welsh), film and English as it is set in a dairy format. The plot is intriguing as you aren't given any clues as the reader to tell you how it will all work out. The blurb (as in all children's books) is very important as it is clear from this what you can expect as you are reading it. I enjoyed this and because the Ninja Turtles are still a hit this will go down well for quite a few years more.