A Flash of Neon – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Fantasy, family, friendship, inclusivity, courage.
Children’s book title: A Flash of Neon.
Children’s author: Sophie Cameron.
Genre: Magical realism.
Published by: Little Tiger.
ISBN: 9781788957366.
Recommended for children aged: 10-14 year-olds.
First published: Paperback May 2025.
This children’s book is ideal for: KS3 readers.
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Our review:
Bookshops are full of stories, and not just on the page.
Fourteen-year-old Laurie has always been happy living through other people’s stories. She loves working in her mum’s bookshop in their small Scottish town near Loch Ness. Her life is immersed in stories – both in the printed tales she helps to sell and in those she imagines about the lives of their customers.
Recently, though, Laurie has been living in a story of her own. A chance meeting on holiday in Brighton has led to an intensive online correspondence with the charismatic and confident Neon. In just a few months, Neon has become Laurie’s best friend and her closest confidant. And potential first romance.
After six months of intensive virtual contact, Neon is finally coming to visit Laurie. It should all be perfect except for one tiny detail – Neon doesn’t exist. He is entirely fictional, created by Laurie on the spur of the moment in order to fit in with her apparently more experienced school friends. The same friends who are now eagerly awaiting the mysterious Neon’s arrival at the train station
And then Neon steps off the train.
He is exactly as Laurie imagined him to be, from his exuberance and musical talent right down to the birthmark above his eyebrow in the shape of France. Neon is as real as Laurie is. Her imaginary best friend is now her house guest.
Unfortunately, it turns out that there isn’t exactly a rule book to follow when your imaginary friend comes to visit. Or what to do if you are an imaginary friend who has been manifested into the real world.
“Sometimes, not often, we can cross over into your world… not everyone can do it. Its only possible when someone in this world really, really believes in us.”
Laurie and Neon’s real-life friendship gets off to a rocky start as they try to figure out who the other one really is. As other imaginary creatures start to appear around town, Laurie realises that having a friend, however he came into her life, may be exactly what she needs to live her truest and most real life.
Scottish author Sophie Cameron’s previous novel, Away with Words, was shortlisted for the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Writing and praised by both judges and pupil shadowing groups for its originality and inventiveness. A Flash of Neon has a similar theme of magical realism, with a focus on the power of the imagination and how we have the right and the ability to create our own stories.
A Flash of Neon is a charming, affirmative story that will appeal to fans of Rainbow Rowell and Elle McNicoll.
Many thanks to Little Tiger for the review copy.
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