book cover

I Am the Minotaur

by Anthony McGowan

Interest age: 12 to 15
Reading age: 12+

Published by Oxford University Press with Barrington Stoke, 2020

  • Coming-of-age
  • Short stories

About this book

Matthew does his best to be invisible, especially at school. He doesn’t want anyone to notice him or use the horrible nickname ‘Stinky Mog’ that he was given a few years ago. Everything is much easier if no one notices him, so he stays under the radar and watches life from the side-lines.

The only good part of Matthew’s day is Ariadne, one of the popular girls in his class, whom he admires from afar. When Ariadne discovers that her new bike has been stolen, Matthew is determined to do something positive and makes a reckless decision: to get her bike back. It’s a choice that will have big consequences and a choice that will definitely get him noticed, and not exactly in the way he imagined.

As a young carer, Matthew’s home life is as equally devastating as his school life and this is an emotionally charged story that unflinchingly tackles very challenging themes of poverty, neglect and bullying. Yet it is also full of hope as Matthew finds that friendship and change can be found in unexpected places. Matthew is brave in his choices, though he perhaps doesn’t entirely think them through – but this of course makes them all the more relatable and understandable.

Printed in a dyslexia friendly format.

Note: includes some limited swearing

About the author

Anthony McGowan was born in Manchester in 1965. He went to school in Leeds. He has an M.Phil in philosophy and a PhD on the history of the concept of beauty. He has worked as a nightclub bouncer, civil servant, and Open University tutor in philosophy. He now lives in London. He is married to the fashion designer and novelist Rebecca Campbell. They have two children.

His debut thriller, Stag Hunt, was published in 2005 and a sequel, Mortal Coil, came out in 2005. In the same year, Random House published Hellbent, his first novel for teenagers, and a second young-adult book, Henry Tumour, was published in 2006. Henry Tumour won the Book Trust Teenage prize, the 2007 Catalyst Award, and has been shortlisted for several major awards.

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