- Chapter Books
- Ages 10–14
- Contemporary
Brock
Book 1 of 4 in The Truth of ThingsView the full series
The spare, unsentimental first novella in Anthony McGowan's Carnegie-winning quartet about two working-class Yorkshire brothers. When Nicky rescues a badger cub from a gang's baiting, he and his learning-disabled brother Kenny take on a secret that tests their fierce, unspoken bond.
- Best for10–14
- FormatChapter
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Literary
- Conversational
Tone
- Dark
- Bittersweet
- Gentle
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Nicky and Kenny are brothers scraping by in a poor corner of Yorkshire, with a mum long gone and a dad barely holding it together. Nicky spends his days looking out for Kenny, who is older but has learning difficulties and takes the world at his own trusting pace. When local bully Jezbo and his gang drag the boys into a brutal badger-baiting, Nicky manages to save one badger cub from the slaughter, and the boys hide it away as a secret worth protecting. Anthony McGowan writes in short, plain, deceptively simple sentences that carry real weight, and Brock is both a bleak portrait of hardship and a tender study of the love between two brothers. Told with dry humour and no false comfort, it is a gripping, moving story pitched at readers who want something short, honest and grown-up. The opening book of The Truth of Things quartet, which concludes with the Carnegie Medal-winning Lark.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
Best for ages 10-14 reading independently. The reading level is very accessible for a short, fast read, but the content, poverty, animal cruelty, an absent mum, is emotionally mature, so it suits confident, slightly older readers or reluctant teens rather than younger children.
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 10–14
- Read aloud · 10–13
- Independent · 10–14
Prose load
Light
Visual support
None
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: animal harm, poverty or hardship, illness or disability, violence, bullying, absent parent.
Bedtime suitability
1 / 5 · Wide awake
Sensitive-child
2 / 5 · Use judgement
Graphic intensity
3 / 5 · Some
Best for
- Reluctant readers
- Gritty realism
- Sibling stories
- Short and powerful
Avoid if
- Wants gentle bedtime
- Sensitive to animal harm
- Wants a happy ending
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Neurodiversity or learning differences
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Nicky is an ordinary kid dealing with real, hard stuff, and readers root for him as he outsmarts the gang and hides the badger cub. It is short, tense and never talks down, so even readers who find long books a slog get pulled straight through.
- Surviving danger
- The underdog winning
- Family belonging
Why parents love it
McGowan does an enormous amount in very few plain words. It is an honest window into poverty and caring for a disabled sibling, handled with dry humour and deep tenderness, and a superb bridge into serious fiction for readers who need it short.
- Great writing
- Conversation starter
- Quick to read
In the series
The Truth of Things.
4 books · open the series →
About the author
Anthony McGowan.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
