The Final Year
Book 1 of 2 in The Final YearView the full series
A CLiPPA-winning verse novel about Nate, a working-class boy in his last year of primary school, whose world tilts when his best friend drifts away and his baby brother is rushed to hospital. Raw, funny and full of heart, held together by a teacher who sees the writer in him.
- Best for9–12
- FormatIllustrated
- Length288 pp
- Read aloud~1 hr55 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Lyrical
- Conversational
Tone
- Heartwarming
- Bittersweet
- Melancholic
- Inspirational
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Nate is about to start his final year of primary school, ready for anything with his best mate PS at his side. But then they're split into different classes, PS falls in with Turner the bully, and Nate's world starts to slip out of his grip. At home, money is tight, his single mum is stretched to breaking, and when his baby brother Dylan is rushed into hospital, Nate has to hold his fear inside. It's his teacher, Mr Joshua, who hands him a way through: words, and the freedom to put them on the page. Told entirely in vivid, plain-spoken free verse and threaded with Joe Todd-Stanton's atmospheric illustrations, Matt Goodfellow's debut novel is tender, funny and unflinching about friendship, family and the anger that comes with feeling powerless. It won the 2024 CLiPPA and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing. A book that reluctant and confident readers alike race through, and that leaves a lump in the throat.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
Pitched at confident readers of 9-12 reading independently, and a superb read-aloud for the same age. The short, accessible verse makes it reachable for reluctant readers, while the themes of family illness and hardship give it real weight; its emotional honesty also earns it genuine adult crossover appeal.
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- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 9–12
- Independent · 9–13
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Moderate
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: illness or disability, poverty or hardship, bullying, absent parent.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
2 / 5 · Use judgement
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Verse novels
- Emotional reads
- Reluctant readers
- School stories
- Big feelings
Avoid if
- Wants light comfort read
- Sensitive to family illness
Particularly good for children who are…
- Illness in family
- Hospital stay
- Moving to secondary school
- Being bullied
- Anger management
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A powerful KS2 class read for the transition to secondary school: the verse form is a brilliant model for children's own writing, and the themes of friendship, family illness and managing big emotions anchor rich PSHE and empathy work.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Nate sounds exactly like a real kid: funny, furious, scared and loyal all at once. The short verse chapters fly by, the friendship betrayal stings, and the fear for baby Dylan feels completely real. Readers who don't usually finish books finish this one.
- Being understood finally
- The underdog winning
- Making a difference
Why parents love it
Goodfellow writes with a poet's precision and total honesty about poverty, family illness and the anger of a boy holding everyone together. A CLiPPA-winning, Carnegie-shortlisted book that opens up big conversations and rewards reading aloud, one crystalline poem at a time.
- Great writing
- Conversation starter
- Cultural representation
In the series
The Final Year.
2 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
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.
