Not As We Know It

For fans of David Almond’s Skellig and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, here is a lyrical, atmospheric, and deeply emotional middle-grade novel with a touch of magical realism.
 
Twins Jamie and Ned do everything together, from watching their favorite show, Star Trek, to riding their bikes, to beachcombing after a storm. But Ned is sick with cystic fibrosis, and he may someday leave Jamie behind. One day the boys find a strange animal on the beach: smooth flesh on one end, scales at the other, and short arms and legs with long webbed fingers and toes. Could it be a merman, like in the old stories Granddad tells?
 
Together, the boys name the creature Leonard and decide to hide him in a tub in their garage. But . . . why is Leonard here? Jamie hopes he might bring some miracle that will stop his brother from going where he can no longer follow. But Ned, who grows closer to Leonard every day, doesn’t seem to be getting any better. . . .

"An elegant story of courage and loss." —The Wall Street Journal

"A heartrending but ultimately uplifting adventure novel." —School Library Journal, Starred

"A hauntingly beautiful story about brotherly bonds, wrenching grief, and the untethered hope that everything will somehow work out." —Publishers Weekly, Starred

"Captivating." —Shelf Awareness, Starred

Tom Avery is the author of the middle-grade novels My Brother’s Shadow, which was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and named a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year with outstanding merit, and Too Much Trouble, winner of the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award. He was born and raised in London in a very large, very loud family, descendants of the notorious pirate Henry Avery. Tom has worked as a teacher in inner-city schools in London and Birmingham, and he lives in Amsterdam with his wife and two sons. Learn more at tomaveryauthor.com.