SUNDAY TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019

Laugh-out-loud funny and instantly recognisable - not since The Inbetweeners has a coming of age story been so irreverent and relatable.

Fifteen-year-old Sam is not a famous vlogger, he's never gone viral, and he doesn't want to be the Next Big Thing. In fact he's ordinary and proud of it.

None of which was a problem until Dad got rich and Mum made the whole family move to London. Now Sam's off to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where everyone's busy planning Hollywood domination or starting alt-metal psychedelica crossover bands. Sam knows he'll never belong, even if he wanted to. And that's before he ends up on stage wearing nothing but a fur onesie ...

A brilliantly funny look at fitting in, falling out and staying true to your own averageness.

'Dangerously funny ... To the parent, every line rings true - this is a writer with real live teenagers and he is especially good on the ups and downs of sibling relations and young love. Sutcliffe is gifted and talented. I hope the prizes flood in. I'll be giving this to every teenager I know' - Alex O'Connell, The Times

'The Gifted, the Talented and Me made me cry with laughter. A comic novel like this is a gift to the nation' - Amanda Craig

Reviews

“Hold the front page: a young adult book has landed that isn't set in a dystopian warzone, doesn't involve a bleak tale of terminal illness, abuse or hate. Absolutely no one dies. Although readers may collapse laughing because, shush, it's dangerously funny ... To the parent, every line rings true - this is a writer with real live teenagers and he is especially good on the ups and downs of sibling relations and young love. Sutcliffe is gifted and talented. I hope the prizes flood in. I'll be giving this to every teenager I know.” –  Alex O'Connell, The Times Children's Book of the Week

“So, so funny and recognisable - I immediately forced it on my 14 year old” –  Jenny Colgan, Sunday Times bestselling author

“Funny books for teenagers are a scarce thing indeed, making The Gifted, the Talented and Me particularly welcome ... Sutcliffe's first comic novel for younger readers is a deft satire on 21st-century family life. Comparisons with Adrian Mole are inevitable, but this has a charm all of its own.” –  Fiona Noble, Observer

“The Gifted, the Talented and Me made me cry with laughter. A comic novel like this is a gift to the nation, and Will Sutcliffe's teenage Sam, struggling to adapt as his family moves to privileged, pretentious Hampstead and enrols him in a progressive London school is the best book he has written for a decade. He, David Nicholls and Joe Dunthorne are part of a tradition that goes back to PG Wodehouse, and which has never been more needed by readers young and old.” –  Amanda Craig, journalist and author of The Lie of the Land