About a Boy by Nick Hornby focuses on the way that the two central characters, Marcus and Will, learn to trust other people and so find happiness.

Themes are ideas running through texts. In About a Boy the themes of isolation, adulthood and depression are explored.

The main characters in About a Boy are Will and Marcus. Will needs to become a responsible adult and Marcus needs to learn how to be a child.

About A Boy is a novel. The way the novel is structured creates a particular effect, as does the modern, realistic language.

An example of a typical exam question with advice on how best to answer it.