This is a unique book. Short (I read it in an hour), it is very hard to categorize. Set in the Netherlands in 1951, it is told in the first person by Thomas who 'saw things no one else could see'. His father is a Christian bigot who will brook no interference with his ideas, and who regularly beats Thomas and his mother. Thanks to Thomas's getting to know Mrs van Amersfoort next door (whom children believe to be a witch) father gets his come-uppance. The style is often humorous in spite of the dark theme, but it is the lightness of touch, the magic, the poignancy, the wonder of it that stays with one. 'The book of everything' is the book Thomas writes all his thoughts in, including his meetings with Jesus - a 'cool' canny Jesus who doesn't have all the answers but provides comfort. 'When I grow up, I am going to be happy,' writes Thomas, and we have every reason to believe he will be. Quite superb.