The Boundless

By: Kenneth Oppel

Age: KS2

UKLA Book Awards 7-11 category shortlist 2016

I found this book very exciting throughout, as it is full of adventure and it left me wanting to read on after almost every chapter. It has aspects of romance, wonder and mystery, which enhance the adventure that the main character goes on, during his journey on the train.

I think this is a great book for imagery and inference skills, as children could read a passage and explore it deeper by thinking about what the descriptions tell the reader. For example, reading extracts about the main character (Will) and from this forming a character fact file. Also, as the first chapter happens three years before the rest of the book, this could be used to compare how things change through the book. This chapter has a lot of key points in that foreshadow things to come.

I would fully recommend this book, as it is full of adventure and is very climatic. The first chapter alone is very exciting and I was glad that the level of excitement and adventure continued throughout the whole book.

It is lovely to watch Will's character develop and mature personally and with his relationships. While progressing through the book it seemed Will gained in confidence, took more risks and began to stand up for himself. An interesting task could be to explore Will's adventure and highlight key moments when it is evident he is evolving as a character - children could think about how different characters impact Will's adventure and his personality/character development.

I found most of the main characters interesting as the plot developed, because you find out more and more about them, which adds depth to the characters. It is interesting to consider the motives of the different characters, as they all seem to have significant differences in the reasoning behind their actions.