I really loved this book. At first I couldn't quite work out who George was but I enjoyed finding out. The characters are all great and I especially enjoyed Daniel's relationships with both his mum and Maxie. I also really liked the illustrations. Overall, a really nice, accessible, with short chapters and a lovely story.

It's beautifully written, very readable and sensitively looks at what it means to be human and the ethics of AI, however I struggled with this book. The conversational language used made me think it was set in the 1980s ( If Alan Bennett was a Geordie & wrote for children), but then the main character was reading a book not published until 2008? After that I couldn't really believe that the characters wouldn't know the truth about George straight away. Even Y6 were way more savvy about technology then! The ending is also very abrupt, I think readers are going to be left feeling a bit short changed by it.

I love David Almond, Skellig is one of my favourite childhood books and I was lucky enough to go to a lecture held by him while I was at university. His books are amazing, beautiful and moving.
I think if I was younger I would have enjoyed this book more but I would definitely read it with my children. He’s a master of storytelling.