Boom! (novel)
novel by Mark Haddon
Boom! is a 2008 children's science fiction novel by English writer and illustrator Mark Haddon. It is the revised version of Haddon's Gridzbi Spudvetch!, published in 1993.
Plot
Boom! tells the story of two best friends, Charlie and Jimbo (a nickname for James). When Jimbo's sister, Becky, says that the teachers are going to send him to a school for mentally ill children, Jimbo and Charlie sneak into the staff room, where they hid a walkie-talkie to eavesdrop on the teachers' conversation, in order to confirm what Becky said was true. None of the information they hear means anything (which points to the fact that Becky was just trying to scare Jimbo), except for the surprising fact that their teachers Mr. Kidd and Mrs. Pearce are speaking another language.
After a while of dangerous investigating (for instance, sneaking into Mrs.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Boom! (novel)” is novel by Mark Haddon. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Boom, novel and Mark, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “novel by Mark Haddon” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4943370. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008 and 1993.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Boom! (novel)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.