11 year old Finn Button is spontaneously handed a fish tank while waiting for the bus, setting into motion the start of an aquatic fantasy adventure. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole to enter Wonderland and Lucy climbing through the wardrobe to discover Narnia, Finn Button embarks on an adventure when he is dragged into his fish bowl and discovers Adria. Once he finds himself there he is swept into a current affairs (not sorry) crisis between the Aquaplings, miniature humans, and Rotterbogs, a community of water ogres in hiding but wanting to take back control of Adria and the Aquaplings. Finn meets famous inventor Ged Sinclair who is on a mission to rescue his missing son, and is eager to lend a hand. This is an interesting adventure story that, at its core, is about gaining confidence. Finn isn’t always and never intentionally in the thick of the action when helping Ged rescue Henry but through the book we see Finn go from a quiet and insecure but curious boy with no friends on land to someone confident with friends and a support system around him in Adria. Emphasised by Ged’s comment “there’s nothing that you can’t do”. Gaining self-belief and finding an inner well of fortitude is a key theme through the book and a good message for the middle grade readers to share. I am curious what will happen in the future, there are some loose threads left at the end of the book regarding whether Finn will spend more time in Adria, whether there will be repercussions for Finn or Ged for ignoring the Prime Minister's request to meet Finn, and what it truly means for Finn to own the fish tank and in turn Adria. Finn Button and The Discovery of Adria is quick and easy to read for middle grade readers looking for an adventure that boosts confidence and promotes self-belief.
When eleven-year-old Finn is given a fish tank by a complete stranger in the street it is the start of an amazing adventure. That evening, he sets it up at home. In the middle of the night, he is woken up by a crab making noises in the tank. When he moves towards the tank, he discovers an octopus sitting in the corner, who then pulls him into the tank. There he discovers a fantastic underwater world called Adria, inhabited by miniature humans called Aquaplings. One of them is a famous inventor called Ged Sinclair. Finn joins Ged on a mission to rescue his missing son, Henry.
Whilst there, Finn becomes entangled in long-standing tensions and a battle-in-the-making between The Rotterbogs, a community of water ogres, who want to regain control of Adria and ordinary Aquaplings. It is only later he learns that his being there was no chance encounter; he was in fact placed there by the Rotterbogs to be used as a pawn to obtain information from Ged, to assist in the battle.
As he deals with the challenges presented by The Rotterbogs and the water landscape, Finn evolves from a quiet, curious boy into a confident and courageous one.
