Sam is obsessed with one book - we would call it The Guiness Book of Records. Sam calls it The Big Book of Records. He reads this book at school, in the school library at lunch time, with his best friend Vihaan after school and on weekends. If you look closely at the cover you can see some the world records that Sam has tried to beat and yes, they are all fairly crazy! For example: most sticky notes stuck on a face in one minute - 60 - set by someone in USA in 2014.
In his class the teacher announces a new assignment.
"In 500 words describe your proudest moment. You will be asked to read your work to the class and are welcome to bring in any certificates, trophies or other relevant objects to help describe this moment."
There are two key words in this assignment that cause Sam huge distress - certificates and trophies. His sister has certificates displayed all over their fridge. And there are trophies in her room and other parts of the house because, even though she is only nine years old, it feels to Sam that she is the family superstar, and he is almost invisible.
The class assignment gives Sam and idea - IF he can break a world record, and IF he can do it all the official way and have witnesses and time keepers etc, and IF he can submit this to the World Record people in time, he MIGHT get a certificate and he MIGHT gain some recognition in his family and best of all he MIGHT have something fabulous to share for this school assignment. The other kids MIGHT even be hugely impressed.
Of course, some records are impossible, some are messy, some cost money and they don't much of that in his one parent family, some rely on involving others such as his friend or sister but then he hits on the best record that he surely can achieve - the most scoops of ice cream balanced on a single cone - 125 - set by someone in Italy in 2018. And luckily Sam is friends with the man who drives the local ice cream van.
Publisher blurb: Sam is a kind and thoughtful eleven-year-old, but he thinks he’s not that great at anything. His sister, Ava, is a soccer star and his best friend, Vihaan, is an award-winning artist. The one thing Sam is good at is knowing all about the extraordinary feats in the Big Book of Records. When Sam is set a class project about a moment he’s proud of, he can’t think of anything and takes inspiration from his favourite book. He knows he’ll be proud of himself if he can break a world record! But breaking a world record isn’t easy. And things get even harder when someone close to Sam needs his help and he must decide: will he be good? Or be the best?
You do have to stick with this book because the real action or purpose or poignant moment doesn't happen until page 250 and the whole book is only 278 pages so this moment is nearly at the end of the journey we have taken with Sam as he tries to break a world record and gain some level of fame in his family, class, and neighborhood.
This book will appeal to readers aged 10+. It is an easy book to read and Australian readers will understand the local references. One small example is the Good Guys electrical retail store from here in Australia is called The Great Guys in this story.
Each chapter begins with a world record (some are real and some specific to Sam):
Longest Handstand 11.82 minutes; Heaviest watermelon 159kg; Most socks put on one foot in under thirty seconds = 22 socks; Largest collection of garden gnomes 2042; and so on.
Here is the website for the author Carla Fitzgerald. Thank you to UQP for this advance copy. How to break a world record and survive Grade Five will be published at the end of July, 2024.
I previously talked about:
I once made a library display or set of posters with book that incorporated grade names - but sadly most of these are now out of print.
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