A Million Tiny Missiles All At Once is the debut novel written by award-winning school librarian Lucas Maxwell, it was the winner of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition 2024, and is due for publication in spring 2026. For transparency, I should state that I have been in contact with the author via social media for the past 6 years because his generous sharing of school library ideas and resources provided inspiration to me in my previous library role. However, this prior contact has not biased my review for his extraordinary book.

Inspired by the author’s own childhood, growing up as a neurodivergent child in Nova Scotia, the fictional story of fourteen-year-old Elias is utterly heart-wrenching, completely compelling and ultimately hopeful. The immediacy of the writing transported me into a life which was so different to my own, providing real insight into the experience of a neurodivergent child living in an environment where everything is harsh; from the weather conditions to the attitudes and insults of the townsfolk. From the opening page, where Elias’s first person narrative tells you that his own father describes him as not being ‘all there in the head’, you realise that this boy is sadly misunderstood; his high intelligence is only recognised by those characters who care to take the time to get to know the unique way that his brain works.

Set during a winter when the snow and ice storms extend right through to April, Elias provides a unique perspective on a family which is being shattered like icicles hit with a baseball bat. Deep crevasses are being driven into the family unit by older brother Bo’s aggressive behaviour, caused by his descent into the local drug culture. Their parents are constantly arguing over how to deal with the wayward teenager, and Dad’s long hours at work and his profession as a policeman in a small town is not helpful to the family’s situation. Elias cannot fully grasp what is going on with the older brother that he adores, but knows that things need to be fixed and feels that it is his responsibility to bring his fractured family back together. His solution is to win the school talent contest with his repertoire of clever jokes, thinking that the free Pizza Hut meal, awarded to the winner, will glue his family back together.

In a short novel of just over 200 pages, Lucas Maxwell deftly explores human relationships, presenting his readers with a fascinating cast of characters each of whom are navigating their way through the missiles that life hurls at them. Elias is a character who will live long in my heart, with his single-minded determination to save his brother, regardless of the consequences for himself, and his ferocious and precise wit. Some of his snarky ripostes to those who belittled him made me laugh out loud, providing welcome relief during some of the tenser episodes of the story. I also loved the depiction of the extreme weather, which seemed to emphasise the ice-cold hearts of some of the unsavoury inhabitants of the town.

In my opinion, this YA novel is an essential for secondary school library collections and is also likely to appeal to many adult readers when it is published in April 2026.

I am very grateful to Lucas Maxwell and to Chicken House Books for sending me an uncorrected proof ahead of publication. It was my choice to write a review and all opinions are my own.