The unbearable lightness of being poor Barnaby

WHEN Barnaby Brocket was born in Sydney, it was immediately clear he was an unusual child.

WHEN Barnaby Brocket was born in Sydney, it was immediately clear he was an unusual child.

WHEN Barnaby Brocket was born in Sydney, it was immediately clear he was an unusual child.

He looked exactly like any typical baby boy but the minute his mother gave birth, he floated to the ceiling.

And that’s when all of his problems began. Desperate to please his parents, Barnaby does his best to stop floating but he can’t do it.

One day his mother decides she’s had enough and realises Barnaby has to go.

The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket is the creation ofIreland’s John Boyne – his secondchildren’s novel following therunaway success of his novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

It tells the tale of Barnaby as he struggles to overcome his differences and travels to South America, New York, Canada, Ireland and even into space.

Along the way he meets new friends and realises that it’s OKto be different.

“I want children who read this book to empathise with Barnaby,” 40-year-old Boyne says.

“Most children feel different in some way and most know someone who is outwardly different.

“I wanted a hero in Barnaby that the reader would fall for – a boy who is charming, full of fun and goodness.”

Boyne shot to stardom after the release of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which has sold more than five million copies and was made into an award-winning Miramax film.

Dublin-born Boyne decided at the age of 10 to become an author, and started writing stories as a child.

He studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and worked at a Waterstone’s bookshop.

He finally left the bookshop after seven years and now writes a mixture of children’s and adult novels.

“When I was writing Barnaby, I didn’t write it with adults in mind because when you’re writing for children you must respect the audience,” Boyne says. “But I like to put layers in, so there are some things adults might understand and others children understand.”

 

Boyne enjoyed reading stories by Robert Louis Stevenson when he was a child and laments the lack of serious adventure books for children today.

“Those kinds of adventure books just aren’t written any more,” he says. “I didn’t read Twilight or The Hunger Games because they just didn’t appeal to me and I don’t want to write books like those. They have empty characters. I’m certainly not interested in telling kids to shut off their brains.”

Boyne’s idea for Barnaby came when he was out walking his dog.

“He was pulling on the lead and I wondered what it would be like if you put a floating child on a lead,”Boyne says.

“I thought it would make it quite funny. It just evolved from there.”

John Boyne will appear at the Brisbane Writers Festival, which runs from September 5-9.