4-8yrs

Snow-Man Windy Pops!

09/03/2016 by Alex Milway

If you’ve ever found yourself reading a dull early reader book – most likely from a reading scheme – you and your kids will be jumping for joy at this new series. Snow-man Windy Pops! by the hilarious Tommy Donbavand and Steve Beckett is an incredibly irreverent Beano-esque blast of brilliance.

Part of a set (in much the same style as the Oxford Reading Tree, with vocabulary lists, and so on), this book is filled with great comic illustrations and fart gags galore. If your kids like windy-pops jokes, this book will have them laughing til they’re blue in the face. Yes, it’s very silly, but I know from experience that’s what a lot of children love. My daughter think it’s brilliant.

So if your young son or daughter is finding their reading books at school boring, this will make them very happy – and teach them new words at the same time. Great stuff!

If you liked this, check out all the other super titles in the series.

Published by Badger Learning. RRP £5.99.

Pugly Bakes a Cake

19/02/2016 by Danny Pearson

Are you ready for a bake-off?

As you’d imagine from a book titled Pugly Bakes a Cake, Pugly, the pug, is going to make a cake. However, Clem, the cat, is going to try her hardest to land Pugly in trouble and the evil squirrel from the back garden is also out to ruin things for poor Pugly.

This wonderful adventure by award-winning Pamela Butchart is beautifully illustrated by the Queen of pug illustration, Gemma Correll.

Will Pugly create the worlds best cake using eggs, flour… tuna, cheddar cheese and day-old spaghetti? Probably not BUT it is going to be one big, baking adventure finding out.

If you like this try George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

Published by Nosy Crow. RRP £5.99.

Mortimer Keene: Attack of the Slime

10/02/2016 by David O'Connell

New readers have a treat in store for them with Mortimer Keene: Attack of the Slime.

A wave of green slime attacks St Barnabas’ School, chasing pupils and teachers alike, filling up the classrooms with its foul-smelling tendrils. Some enterprising teachers discover the source: Mortimer Keene, the small kid with BIG ideas, and a home-made slime generator.

Tim Healey’s witty rhyming text bounces along in this heavily illustrated early reader, which is one of a series. There’s also a handy A-Z of slime in the back for future reference. Chris Mould’s pictures are suitably inventive and brought to life with a good helping of bright lime green spot colour. An Edward Gorey book for the very young.

If you like this try Captain Underpants.

Published by Hachette Children’s Group. RRP £4.99

Louie Lets Loose

09/02/2016 by Alex Milway

“Greetings, humans. I am Louie the Unicorn and this is my tale.” And so begins the terrifically funny and wonderfully absurd Louie Lets Loose by Rachel Hamilton.

It’s a nicely simple premise, perfectly suited for early readers just getting used to reading novels: Young Louie the Unicorn decides to leave Story Land for the Bright Lights of New York in search of SUPERSTARDOM.

Our intrepid, selfie-snapping unicorn enrols in the New York School for Performing Arts to realise his dreams, and in doing so meets all sorts of cool mythical creatures living it large in the city. And of course, this isn’t quite the New York as we know it, though there are hot dogs and donuts, and probably gallons of coffee.

We need more bright and cheerful books like this, for this age group. Honestly, after climbing the slow mountain of the early years reading schemes, to any new reader this book will make it seem like the clouds have parted and the sun is shining down from above.

And that’s not even mentioning the ace illustrations by Oscar Armelles. They’re a quirky mix of line and photo montage, which suits the story perfectly.

If you like this, try the Claude books by Alex T Smith.

Published by Oxford University Press. RRP £5.99

My Hamster is a Detective

05/02/2016 by Katie Lee

Ben Jinks has a very clever hamster. In fact, Ben’s hamster is a genius. And he can talk. So it makes perfect sense when Ben and his genius, talking hamster, Stinky, embark on a detective adventure that stretches both their powers of reasoning. When Ben’s sister’s kitten gets cat-napped, the “Tenacious Two” take on the case, leaving no hamster wheel unturned in a bid to find the missing mog.

A fast-paced, gag-packed adventure ensues with Ben and his sarcastic pet bickering energetically throughout. Although within the grasp of six-year-olds, some of the humour may be lost on the youngest early readers, but slightly older readers will appreciate the impressive array of sarcastic put-downs offered by the duo. It’s definitely something for parents to look forward to. Dave Lowe has written a little gem here, and the illustrations by Mark Chambers are also a treat!

If you liked this, you might like The Twits by Roald Dahl or The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies.

My Hamster is a Detective is part of a series, so there are plenty of other Stinky and Jinks stories to be had if you fancy more hamster japes.

Published by Templar Publishing. RRP £5.99

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

04/02/2016 by David O'Connell

Written and illustrated by the current Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat absolutely oozes quality.

Ottoline Munro and hirsute friend Mr Munro investigate a series of burglaries amongst the rich dog-owners of Big City. Ottoline is going to need a very clever plan to solve this mystery.

This multi-award winning book is a treat to look at, thanks to Chris Riddell’s super-detailed and elegant illustrations, with which the book is absolutely packed. The prose is just as refined: the fun is all in the deadpan understatement. It’s a classic, which will look beautiful on any bookshelf. (This is not one to buy in ebook format!)

If you like this try some of the other Ottoline books (such as this one), or even one of The Edge Chronicles with Paul Stewart!

Published by Pan Macmillan. RRP £10.99

Alien Adventure: It’s OK We’re Going to Save the Planet

01/02/2016 by Danny Pearson

Are you tired of not being able to draw in your reading books? Of course you are!

But fear not, for Alien Adventure: It’s OK We’re Going to Save the Planet will change all that. You don’t just read this story, in a great twist on the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books, you create it!

Andrew & Chris Judge (of the Lonely Beast fame) welcome you to colour, scribble, fold, tear and doodle all sorts of strange and alien things in this wild, new adventure. Every page has at least one mad sketch that you will be asked to add too. The possibilities for adventure are as endless as space itself.

It is all down to you, the reader, the CREATOR, on how mad you want your adventure to be. So sit down, buckle up (although the book does warn you it does not come with buckles) and get creating.

This is published by Scholastic, RRP £5.99.

If you like this, try How to Make Awesome Comics, by Neill Cameron.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants

10/12/2014 by Alex Milway

It would be hard to beat the Captain Underpants series for ‘funny’. Written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey, its beauty lies in its mixture of comic and novel – much of which is ‘created’ by its two main characters. I love it for that. I’m certain there are many kids who have been inspired to make their own comics because of these books.

Captain Underpants is desperately silly, for sure, but the books pique the interest of many children who may not immediately jump at the chance of picking up a book. It should be celebrated as being one of the most novel and unique children’s books on the market.

Snow-Man Windy Pops!

Pugly Bakes a Cake

Mortimer Keene: Attack of the Slime

Louie Lets Loose

My Hamster is a Detective

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

Alien Adventure: It’s OK We’re Going to Save the Planet

The Adventures of Captain Underpants

Latest 0-4yrs

Supermarket Gremlins

Latest 4-8yrs

Snow-Man Windy Pops!

Latest 8-12yrs

Perijee and Me