This novel is funny, quirky, moving, fey, fizzy and quite remarkable! The Brocket family of Sydney, Australia pride themselves on being normal. Dad and mum, Alistair and Eleanor, and their first two children, Henry and Melanie, are absolutely normal, but number three, Barnaby, is anything but. From the time he is born, he floats! Defying the laws of gravity, he simply cannot stay on the ground, and the family must nail mattresses to the ceilings so he won't bump his head. This is a tragedy to the parental Brockets, although the children enjoy their abnormal brother. So does the family dog, Captain W.E. Johns. The parents, however, keep Barnaby away from other people, and by the time he is eight, they feel something must be done. Their plot is for mum to take Barnaby out, strapped to his sand-filled rucksack that holds him to the ground, and while there, to cut a hole in the rucksack so the sand starts pouring out. This is the 'terrible thing' that happens to Barnaby, and as he floats up into the sky, his mum tells him it's for the best. It certainly starts him on a run of very remarkable adventures, during which he meets lots of unusual people and ends up, among other places, in Brazil, New York, Toronto, Ireland, and Africa, before floating up to a space ship that takes him back to Sydney. There he is proclaimed as a hero, due to his having saved one of the astronauts, and while he is being checked in hospital, it is discovered that a simple operation on his ears can cure his floating. His parents are delighted, but Barnaby isn't sure. Besides, he remembers only too well what happened before. He is proud to be different, and he knows now that there are lots of people in the world who are different in different ways. So he makes the decision at the last minute, just before the operation is to take place, that he will float off and take his chances on life being exciting and wonderful - and Captain W.E. Johns goes with him! If people could have looked up into the sky over Sydney, they would have seen - 'an eight-year-old boy, rising through the clouds, a small, loyal dog of indeterminate breed and parentage holding tightly onto his legs, disappearing into the darkness of a fine Australian night, heading who knew where'. Brilliantly written, finely conceived, and a wonderfully warm story, this is a tour de force. Jeffers's whacky illustrations suit the text sublimely.