Cool!

 

'Cool!' is the story of a 10-year-old boy, Robbie, who, while chasing his dog Lucky on the street, meets with an accident and goes into a coma. Before the accident, Robbie lived with his mom and younger sister, separated from his father. He is a big-time football fan and has been a center-forward in his school football team.

Weeks go by, and Robbie's condition doesn't change. Although the little boy is in a coma, he can understand most of what is happening around him. He understands the talks between his parents and sister when they visit him. He recognizes the voices of his schoolmates in a recorded message. He can even comprehend the latest football scores his close friend shares every time he visits him.

The story is a narrative from Robbie: Of his experiences, his inner feelings, his imaginations about people who meet him every day, his hopes, and sometimes feeling of hopelessness as he lies on the hospital bed, on life support, unable to express himself, yearning to get better someday.

His parents try all possible ways to bring him out of the coma, including arranging a visit by his favorite player Gianfranco Zola from Chelsea! But nothing works, and everyone is on the verge of losing hope when an unexpected visit changes everything. The shock and surprise of the visit brings the little boy back to life.

The author takes the reader through an emotional journey through this simple and short story with a nice happy ending. The author has been very conscientious and has taken reasonable care that the story remains light and easy for the reader-the way it should be when a 10-year-old narrates it. All in all, a great read for children, ideally aged 8-12 years.

Do check out other books by Michael Morpurgo like An Elephant in the Garden, Escape from Shangri-La, Kensuke's Kingdom, Born To Run, and The Butterfly Lion in my blog.

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