Flying Fergus 10 – The Photo Finish

Sir Chris Hoy and Joanna Nadin's The Photo Finish is the tenth and last Flying Fergus book, a funny cycling story for 8 year olds about a team heading for the biggest races of their lives.

What happens

The International Championships in Manchester are only days away. Fergus should be thrilled. But Daisy has had to move to Inverness for her dad's job, and he's missing his best mate terribly.

Then Mr Bruce, Belinda's dad, who pays for the team, decides he wants to be in charge. He makes himself Executive Coach. He bans bananas and hands out packets of his own butterscotch biscuits instead (Dermot is delighted). Fergus argues back, and gets thrown off the team for it!

Worse is coming. Mr Bruce has a plan involving secret motors hidden inside the bikes. Fergus knows a win like that wouldn't be a real win. Who hasn't wanted to stand up to a grown-up who's being completely ridiculous?

Home isn't much calmer. Mum and Jambo's wedding is a few days after Manchester, and Mum's being a bit odd. She's tired, she's off her food and she won't say why she can't come and watch him race.

So one night Fergus slips out on his bike with his dog Chimp and heads for Nevermore. That's the other world, where Chimp can talk and Fergus's dad coaches the Palace Pedallers. There's trouble there too. The king and his brother have a castle riding on a race, and Lily is furious that her brother Waldorf gets to rule one day just because he's a boy.

It's super silly in the best way. The grown-ups are the ones behaving badly, and the Scottish voices ("Och" and "Aye") are lovely to read aloud. The team hotel has a foot spa, goodie bags and a special bed just for Chimp (who'd much rather sleep on everyone else's).

Underneath the jokes there's a real worry, though. Fergus lies awake in the hotel because everyone else has family coming to cheer them on, and he doesn't think anyone's coming for him. If your reader has ever felt a bit alone on a big day, they'll feel that one.

As it's the end of a long series, it helps to know the Hopefuls already. Old history pops up along the way, like the time bicycles were banned in Nevermore. A reader who's followed Fergus this far will know exactly who everyone is.

What to read next

If they love the idea of a princess on a bike, try Princess BMX next. A princess from a sugary kingdom with a very strict dad tumbles into our world, spots a girl flying off a ramp on a BMX, and decides she simply has to learn.