Matthew is very likeable as a character, and as a reader you desperately want him to get help, so that he can recover from the dreadful fears and anxieties that are crippling his life. From the streets of New York to the dark corners of the art underworld, this "soaring masterpiece" examines the devastating impact of grief and the ruthless machinations of fate (Ron Charles, Washington Post).
His illness is brilliantly handled, as well as his parents' responses to it. The brand-new mystery from the best-selling author of The Goldfish Boy.

The Goldfish Boy is a gripping book by Lisa Thompson about a boy called Matthew who has OCD and is always washing his hands. Maxwell is permanently in trouble. Each character is cleverly handled, and the problems and issues around friendship and loneliness are written about intelligently and in an understandable way. She lives in Suffolk with her family. Books often give us a gateway into understanding someone else's life, and I think this book is particularly important, as a children's book, since it shows the quirks and oddities that make up a variety of different characters, and how their behaviour does not necessarily define who they truly are. There's another boy in the close too, Jake, who initially appears to be the bully of the story but who we slowly learn more about, discovering that he was once Matthew's best friend and that he, too, is living with his own problems and difficulties.

This was an extremely readable book.

Book Review: 'The Goldfish Boy' by Lisa Thompson Lisa Thompson cleverly intertwines a truly intriguing mystery story with an entertaining study of how people respond differently to loss. Because of Matthew's isolation at home, the book deals with loneliness, and also friendship, since he slowly starts to build a relationship with a girl living in the close, Melody, who becomes embroiled in both Matthew's investigation into Teddy's disappearance as well as Matthew's OCD.

Somehow it manages not to be!

Matthew's OCD is sensitively handled, descriptive so that we understand his issues, and emotional as we see him dealing with those issues, meeting a therapist and finally confronting the darkest fears within his heart. The Goldfish Boy was a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the Branford Boase Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “The Goldfish Boy” by Lisa Thompson. His only friend is a Lion on the wallpaper but after a child in the neighbourhood goes missing, he is forced to leave his prison-room, make a … Further reading suggestion: With a similar title, but a different (yet also moving) subject matter, you might also like to try

The mystery has layers upon layers, and as in an Agatha Christie, we flit from thinking that almost anyone could have done it!
What would a child working at greater depth be doing? Nate and his mother are running away, hiding out in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of a forest.

So, with a book dealing with OCD, mental health, physical health problems, loneliness, bullying and the disappearance of a toddler you'd think it would be dark and dreadfully depressing? Matthew remains likeable throughout, and because we are hoping for the best for him, the book itself remains hopeful too.

The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention. Although there are unsettling moments, there are lighter moments too. Chose from several free tools or use Adobe InDesign or Adobe Lightroom. The Goldfish Boy Summary. It's easy to see how an anxiety unshared can escalate until it dominates a child's life, and Matthew's obsessions, with cleanliness and with the number 13, are understandable, believable, and deftly handled.

The EEF KS2 Literacy Guidance document states that "reading comprehension can be improved by teaching pupils specific strategies tha... What do we mean by 'Greater Depth' in maths?