Guest Post: Beaky Malone Blog Tour

Barry Hutchison has to be one of my favourite middle grade authors - I've loved everything that I have read of his, starting of course with the fabulous Invisible Fiends series. His new book, Beaky Malone World's Greatest Liar, was published a couple of days ago and is no exception to this - it is laugh out loud funny from beginning to end. I am really chuffed that Barry wanted to stop off at The Book Zone on his Beaky Malone blog tour, to tell us how he got into writing funny stories:

FUNNY STUFF, GOOD. PUNCHING ME IN THE HEAD, BAD 

I wasn’t a funny kid. I was the quiet one in class, reasonably studious without being brilliant, and usually found quietly reading a comic in the corner when all my work was done for the day. There was nothing notable about me whatsoever, other than my height. I was abnormally tall for my age, and by the time I’d hit 8 years old, I towered several inches above the rest of my class.

This didn’t go unnoticed by the kids in the years above, and soon I was the target for bullies three or four years older than I was. One kid in particular – I can’t remember his name, so let’s call him Bashy McBashface – spent weeks tormenting me, before finally catching me alone one day as I walked home from school.

I can remember his sneering spotty face, his bunched fists, his home-cut crop of ginger hair and his very obvious intent to pummel my head and torso into the pavement. He had another kid with him – his cousin, if I remember rightly, who had two silvery snot-trails as a permanent fixture on his top lip – who alternated between egging Bashy on, and keeping an eye out for trouble.

I was terrified. Too terrified to even raise my fists. Bashy McBashface was HUGE, and had a reputation for being the best fighter in school. I, on the other hand, was a tall, skinny kid who had a reputation for reading The Beano, and for once coming first in the school sports skipping race. It was less Rumble in the Jungle and more Certain Death in That Bit Behind the Shops.

Bashy’s fist drew back. My mouth opened. Words tumbled out all on their own.

Bashy stopped. He cocked his head to the side like a dog. He frowned.

Then, to my amazement, he threw back his head and laughed.

My mouth started moving again, and this time I listened to the words. They were jokes. No, not jokes, observational comedy about our school, the teachers, the other pupils. I even started to crack wise about the current situation, telling Bashy to pass on to my parents that I’d gone to a better place, and leaving instructions as to who to will my ZX Spectrum and Star Wars figures to.

I had no idea where it was coming from, but I was glad it was coming from somewhere. I made Bashy laugh so much that he completely forgot about pounding my face into a two-dimensional oval (much to his cousin’s disappointment). It turned out I had a latent superpower: I could make people laugh.

The next few years passed in a blur of jokes, impressions, pratfalls and other routines. I became “the funny guy” because, as it turns out, the funny guy is far less likely to get his head kicked in than all those other, non-funny guys.

It was only right, then, that when I’d embark on a professional writing career two decades later, the obvious choice of genre would be… um… horror. My Invisible Fiends series (which was first reviewed right here on this very blog) was a violent and occasionally downright disturbing scare-fest designed to have kids and adults alike too scared to turn the light off at bedtime.

It wasn’t until I started reading the reviews, though (and we all read the reviews, even if we pretend we don’t) that I discovered it was funny, too. Most of the reviews commented on the humour, even though I hadn’t really been aware I’d put any in there.

From there, it made sense to try writing funny books, and I’ve never looked back. I now get to spend my days making myself laugh (always an attractive quality) as I write everything from books to TV animation – and even The Beano.

I’d love to say the reason I write funny stuff is because I want to keep the national smiling, but if I was forced through a Beaky Malone-style Truth Telling Machine, I’d have to own up to the fact that the real reason I write comedy is because I’m worried that, if I don’t, everyone’s going to catch me on my own behind the shops one day, and give me a long-overdue kicking.

So, er, read Beaky Malone: World’s Greatest Liar! It’s hilarious, has brilliant illustrations by the amazing Katie Abey and might – just might – stop you punching me in the head.

Huge thanks to Barry for writing that for us. Beaky Malone, World's Greatest Liar was released in the UK on 2nd June.

Review: Perijee & Me by Ross Montgomery

When 11-year-old Caitlin discovers a shrimp-like alien creature on the shores of her island home, she takes responsibility for teaching it about the world. Mostly, this just involved stopping little Perijee from eating everything! Caitlin becomes increasingly close to her alien friend, treating him like a brother.

There's only one problem - Perijee won't stop growing.

Then the authorities try to hunt him down and through his fear, Perijee disappears and starts causing trouble. Caitlin must leave home and travel across the country to try and convince Perijee to stop destroying everything before it's too late.

Perijee & Me is Ross Montgomery's third book for young readers and yet again he has struck gold. His first two books, Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door and The Tornado Chasers, are among me favourite children's books of recent years, and this third offering has now made it on to that list as well. All three books have something very special about them that I find hard to describe. I have the same feelings when I try to describe John Boyne's The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brockett and Noah Barleywater Runs Away. They are contemporary fairy tales, with fantastic character studies, humour, dark fringes, and magical fantasy elements (without the actual magic) and the kind of stories that I think the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen might be creating if they were alive and writing in the 21st Century.

Perijee & Me is an enchanting story that will especially appeal to any reader, child or adult, who has ever felt lonely or who has felt that they have fallen short of the expectations of others. It is about Caitlin, a girl with no friends and 'absent' parents who stumbles across something special, in much the same way as Elliott does in E.T. In fact, there are elements of Perijee & Me that pay homage to Spielberg's masterpiece, as well as one of my all time favourite stories, Ted Hughes' The Iron Man. 

After a particularly violent storm, Caitlin discovers a strange creature lying close-to-death on the beach, surrounded by thousands of festering prawns that have been washed ashore. Her attempts to protect her new friend Perijee from what we would know as exploitation are sadly unsuccessful, and there's this moment where, like in E.T. the authorities arrive on the scene, but that's where the similarities end. Perijee is no meek and fragile creature, and the armed men who storm Caitlin's house very quickly discover that they are woefully unprepared. Can Caitlin defy all the odds and save Perijee from the world, and possibly more importantly, save the world from Perijee?

I hope that Perijee & Me brings Ross Montgomery the wider recognition that he so deserves. Despite his debut being shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award back in 2013, he still falls under the radar of many people who buy books for children, whilst in my opinion he should be up there with likes of John Boyne and Frank Cottrell Boyce. I expect there will be a lot of readers who, on finishing Perijee & Me, will venture out to get their hands on his previous two books.

My thanks go to the lovely people at Faber for sending me a copy of Perijee & Me to read.

Review: Hamish and the Neverpeople by Danny Wallace, illustrated by Jamie Littler

Nobody knows it yet, but the people of Earth are in big, big trouble.

Like - HUGE trouble. Oh, come on, where's your imagination? Double what you're thinking!

And it's all got to do with a shadowy figure, an enormous tower, some sinister monsters, huge clanking and thundering metal oddballs, and people who are just like you… but not like you at all.

Luckily Hamish and the PDF are around to help save the day! Aren't they??

 

Three was the magic number for Bob Dorough, Blind Melon and De La Soul, and it's also the magic number for these new style Book Zone reviews, as part of my seemingly endless quest for brevity when reviewing. So, here are three reasons why I totally love Hamish and the Neverpeople (and also the first outing for the titular main characters, Hamish and the Worldstoppers):

1. Brilliant characters

I've always felt that one of the main ingredients that has led to the huge success of David Walliams's books is his ability to create brilliant, memorable characters. Take it from me, Danny Wallace also possesses this ability in spades. Hamish is one of those characters that young readers will relate to with ease - he's not particularly special, he's just an ordinary boy who fate has decided has a part in saving the earth. Twice. He misses his father sorely, and knows deep down that there must be more to his disappearance than others might suggest. And he has the best group of friends in the world... ever! The various members of the PDF (Pause Defence Force) each comes with their own specific skill-set and distinct personality, which was funny and entertaining enough in the first book, but add their 'Otherhalves' to the mix and you can turn the entertainment level up to 11! (What's an Otherhalf? You'll have to read the book to find out).

2. It is pee-your-pants funny

Get those incontinence pants ready! The Hamish books are so funny that there are bound to be a few little accidents along the way. A shame really - these books would be perfect for primary school teachers to read to whole classes during story time, but just imagine the mess! Danny Wallace is labelled as a humorist on his wikipedia page, and that is exactly what you get in these books - joyous, uncontrived humour from beginning to end, with just the right level of silliness. He is also a master of the use of the so-called 'fourth wall' as a device for making his stories even funnier and he uses this to grab the reader from the off, and makes the reading a far more immersive experience for young readers.

3. Jamie Littler's illustrations

It is truly wonderful when an illustrator's artwork complements the written aspect of a story so perfectly. The most obvious recent example that springs to my mind is Sarah McIntyre's collaboration with Philip Reeve, and Jamie Littler's illustrations for the Hamish books firmly places him on this relatively exclusive list. 

The covers for the two books are among my very favourite for books of this type published in recent years, and publishers Simon and Schuster even included a large, glossy, full colour press release with the book they sent me - if I can just remember in which safe place I filed the Worldstoppers press release I intend to get the two framed together as they will look great on the wall. The illustrations throughout the story are almost as fabulous as the cover, and I only say almost because they are in black and white. Wouldn't it be great if publishers could afford to add colour illustrations throughout their middle grade books? Seriously though, if I won the lottery I would certainly be knocking on Mr Littler's door, begging to buy some of his Hamish illustrations, or prints of them at the very least. 

Hamish and the Neverpeople is due to be published in the UK on 11th February, but if you or your child haven't already read Hamish and the Worldstoppers I would suggest you get yourself down to your nearest book store and buy a copy immediately. It really is worth you going out of your way for!

Review: The Marsh Road Mysteries by Elen Caldecott

Diamonds and Daggers

Hollywood sensation, Betty Massino, has come to star in the theatre down the road and Piotr and his friends Andrew and Minnie couldn't be more excited! But when the famous actress's hugely expensive diamond necklace goes missing, Piotr's dad, a security guard at the theatre, is a prime suspect. Soon, Piotr faces the very real threat of being sent 'home' to Poland. With the help of Sylvie and her twin sister Flora, can Piotr, Andrew and Minnie solve the crime or will they lose Piotr forever? The first in a fantastic new series filled with friendship, adventure and mystery!

Crowns and Codebreakers

When Minnie's gran comes to stay, all the way from Nigeria, Minnie KNOWS there will be trouble. And straight away Gran notices she's picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport. This one is full of boy's clothes, and she's not at all happy about it! But when their house is burgled and the only thing taken is the suitcase, Minnie realises there'll be much more trouble than she bargained for. Can the gang solve the crime or will the mystery of the little lost boy be forever unsolved?

Spooks and Scooters

Flora and Sylvie are going on the holiday of a lifetime with their dad. But - WHAT? - Dad cancels the trip only hours before the flight because - OH MY GOODNESS - someone has stolen precious blueprints of Dad's latest invention: an amazing new scooter. But who? And why? Time to call on the only five people who can possibly solve the crime!

Three was the magic number for Bob Dorough, Blind Melon and De La Soul, and it's also the magic number for these new style Book Zone reviews, as part of my seemingly endless quest for brevity when reviewing. So, here are three reasons to love Elen Caldecott's March Road Mysteries books, of which the third, Spooks and Scooters, is due to be published next month.

1. Diversity

It's fantastic to read a middle grade mystery story that follows the adventures of a group of friends of different races and backgrounds. Piotr Domek is a Polish immigrant and lives his parents, who moved to Britain in search of a better standard of living; Minnie Adesina is of Nigerian heritage; twins Flora and Sylvie Hampshire's parents are separated; and Andrew Jones is probably a young carer (I say probably, as each story puts the spotlight on a different member of the gang, and it hasn't been Andrew's turn yet). This diverse mix of backgrounds and ethnicities rings very true as a group of friends living in modern multi-cultural Britain, and it also lends itself to stories that, whilst being primarily mysteries, also touch on themes such as racism and prejudice.

2. Friendship

Elen Caldecott gets kids. She understands how they tick and how their friendships can be strong one day and fragile the next. Young readers will find it very easy to identify with the relationships between the five protagonists. The characters themselves are engaging and very cleverly drawn, with each child's personality shining just as much as the next, and they bring a wonderful air of humour to the stories that has the reader finding themselves grinning from ear to ear without even realising.

3. Mystery

The mysteries in which the group of friends find themselves embroiled are exciting and cleverly plotted. These aren't Famous Five style adventures, where the protagonists just happen to stumble on to the solution; our team of young sleuths really have to use their brains and combine their various strengths to solve these mysteries. As an adult reader, I have to admit to guessing the outcome of the first two books, but it took me quite a lot longer to work out whodunnit. But I'm reading with a lifetime of read mystery stories locked away in my brain, and I'm sure younger readers will find the solutions a little harder to predict.

Elen Caldecott's Marsh Road Mysteries are a must-read for any mystery-hungry young reader. It's great to see so many new mystery stories being published for this age group at the moment, as they do not appear to have been in vogue for some time. My thanks go to those wonderful people at Bloomsbury for sending me copies of the books to read.

Book Zone Box Set #2 - The Barry Loser Series by Jim Smith

For the second post in my new Book Zone Box Set, where I put the spotlight on a series of books that I have read an enjoyed, and would highly recommend to any parent asking about suitable books for their child, I have selected the pants-wettingly funny Barry Loser series by Jim Smith.

If you have a 7+ aged child who has not yet discovered the Barry Loser books then what are you doing? These are the kind of books that can get kids excited about reading, and as we know, once that happens at a young age it can become a lifelong passion. Not that there can be many children of that age in the UK have not already heard of these books. It's only three years since I Am Not A Loser was published in the UK, and we already have six full-length Barry Loser books in print, as well as the World Book Day title I Am Nit A Loser, and three e-books (two of which are currently free by following the links at the Barry Loser books webpage). Sales in the UK now exceed 400,000 copies, and along withh Liz Pichon's Tom Gates books, has become a genuine rival for Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid books here in the UK.

And there's more... last month saw the release of the first book in a brand new series from Jim Smith - Future Ratboy. Fans of the Barry Loser series will already know that this is a spin-off from the man series, as Future Ratboy is Barry's favourite TV show. Well now Future Ratboy has his very own book, titled Future Ratboy and the Attach of the Killer Robot Grannies, and it is even more hilarious (and keel) than the Barry Loser books themselves. 

Move over Spidey, get back in your cave Batman, and keep your glasses on Clark Kent, there's a new superhero in town. FUTURE RATBOY.

When a bolt of lightning hits Colin Lampost (and his toy bird, Bird), he is zapped millions of years into the future! Life will never be the same again. Bird has been brought to life as Not Bird and Brian's DNA is fused with a rat giving him superkeel powers. Future Ratboy is born!

But the future is not a safe place to be and there are killer robot grannies on the rampage! Will the dynamic duo survive the attack and save the world?

Join Future Ratboy and Not Bird on their first adventure to find out! 

And, Loser fans, there is still more. "Surely not!" I hear you cry, but yes. Not only is there all those Barry Loser books, and the new Future Ratboy book, but, released just this past week, is Barry Loser's Ultimate Book of Keelness. 

The ultimate book for fans of Barry Loser!

Packed full of brilliant content, including the World Book Day book I am nit a Loser, the short stories  ‘Bunky is a Loser’ and ‘My Dad is a Loser’, editions of the Daily Poo, a Q&A with Jim from his fans and pages of brand-new superkeel drawing guides and activities, Barry fans old and new will love Barry Loser’s Ultimate Book of Keelness.

This is another must-buy for all Barry Loser fans. It is full of fun activities, such as drawing tasks (noses, dog poos, fronkle cans) and a loserfan quiz, as well as brand new Barry Loser short stories and also the World Book Day I Am Nit A Loser story (just in cased you missed your chance to get a copy at the time).

I can't recommend these books enough for getting kids into reading for enjoyment. Is there a more heart-warming sound than that of a young child giggling away to themselves as they read a book? 

Review: The Shark-Headed Bear-Thing by Barry Hutchison (illustrated by Chris Mould)

In an alternate 15th century, where dragons roam, sailing ships transform into submarines, and blacksmiths build steampunk robots, ten-year-old orphan Benjamin Blank battles monsters, rescues maidens and discovers fantastic new lands, but never quite manages to get his homework handed in on time.

Each adventure sees Ben and his friends, Paradise Little and Wesley Chant, face a new monstrous menace.

Benjamin Blank dreams of becoming a monster-vanquishing warrior. Unfortunately for Ben, his mechanical-armed blacksmith uncle feels that he just might be a little too young to be battling dangerous creatures such as ogres. However, when Paradise Little, a girl from a nearby village, begs Uncle Tavish for his help in destroying the monster that is terrorising them, mistaken in the belief that he is a warrior blacksmith, Ben steps up and offers his services. In desperation she reluctantly accepts his offer, and so begins an adventure involving a cowardly wizard called Wesley, a game of Burp or Death with a troll, and, of course, the climactic fight with the titular Shark-Headed Bear-Thing.

With his two fabulous Afterworlds books, author Barry Hutchison has already proved that he can write very funny stories for the older middle grade/lower YA audience. Now he has done just the same for 7+ kids. The Shark-Headed Bear-Thing is a pants-wettingly funny adventure story, with a misfit bunch of loveable and occasionally inept main characters. The story is complemented by the wonderfully comedic illustrations of Chris Mould that capture the hilarious tone of Hutchison's writing perfectly.

The Shark-Headed Bear-Thing is just the first in a series of adventures for Benjamin Blank and his new friends. The Swivel-Eyed Ogre-Thing was published in June, and the third book in the series, The Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing, is due to be published in October. If the sequels are anything like the first book in the series then they will make perfect bedtime reading for young readers, either on their own or read by a parent. My thanks go to the wonderful people at Nosy Crow for sending me a copy to read.

Review: The D'Evil Diaries by Tatum Flyyn

Twelve-year-old Jinx is hopeless at being evil. Which is a bit of a problem when you're Lucifer's youngest son. But when Jinx runs away from Pandemonium, the walled city he's lived in all his life, he bumps into dead girl Tommy - who's been sent to Hell for accidentally feeding her nasty uncle to a circus lion - and unearths a conspiracy that could up-end the entire underworld.

Cue shenanigans involving carnivorous carousel horses, death-trap-riddled libraries and hungry quicksand. Now the fate of the realm rests in the hands of its most unlikely demon and a girl who shouldn't be in Hell at all...

The concept of Satan having a hapless son is not a particularly new one, but never has it been as funny as it is in Tatum Flynn's The D'Evil Diaries. In fact, Adam Sandler would have been much better off handing over the co-writing duties on the truly dire Little Nicky to Tatum Flynn - it would have been a hell of a lot funnier if he had (pun intended)!

Jinx D'Evil, the main character of this book, is the son of Lucifer, but he is a pretty poor excuse for a demon. Only he could make the monstrous Nemesis Tree in The Poison Gardens blossom with beautiful pink (and totally harmless) flowers. And the less said about his flying abilities the better. His poor father has tried everything he can think of to make his son a better demon, including sending to various points in Earth's history to learn from some of the planets most despicable villains. But all Jinx seems to do is make them good. With his self-esteem at an all-time low, and before he gets sent to a military academy, Jinx does what many other children his age have thought about doing - he runs away from home, and stumbles straight into a conspiracy that threatens the whole of hell, and possibly heaven as well.

Jinx is aided and abetted in his adventures by Tommy, a young girl who has somehow ended up in hell by mistake (even Lucifer has morals - he doesn't accept children into his realm). Tommy is everything that Jinx isn't - kick-ass brave, clever, resourceful - and the relationship that develops between them as the learn to trust each other (or not, as the case may be at times) is both hilarious and heartwarming.

The D'Evil Diaries is comedy adventure at its best, and it will have children giggling all the way from page one to the final chapter. It is great to see that the author does not patronise her readers - she has obviously done her research and/or knows her mythology and classical depictions of hell very well, and she uses these to great effect without ever dumbing things down for her young audience. Where some funny books for this age group can fall foul of too much emphasis on laughs and not enough on plot, The D'Evil Diaries strikes that perfect balance between the two.

The hilarious and irreverent manner with which the author treats her theology-inspired subject will no doubt have those 'good'(?) people of the Westboro Baptist Church rattling off fire-and-brimstone hate emails by their hundreds, but I'm sure that Ms Flynn can give as good as she gets if she so chooses. She should team up with the brilliant Barry Hutchison, and other authors who have received such missives and find someone to publish an anthology of them. I think it would make a great Christmas stocking filler!

My thanks go to the fab people at Orchard Books for sending me a copy of the book to read.

Review: The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbitt

When Mabel Jones unknowingly commits “The Deed” she finds herself swiftly bundled into a sack by one Omynus Hussh – a dastardly silent loris and the chief child-bagger on board the pirate ship the Feroshus Maggot.

Crewed by the strangest bunch of pirates you would ever want to meet and captained by the dreaded Idryss Ebeneezer Split (a wolf with a false leg carved from a human thighbone, a rusty cutlass sheathed in his belt and a loaded pistol tucked in his pants with no fear of the consequences), the Feroshus Maggot whisks Mabel Jones off on the adventure of a lifetime.

This book carries an incredibly important message that all readers, young or old, should heed or face the appalling consequences: if you are in the habit of picking your nose, it would be wise to pick and flick or pick and wipe, but never, ever pick and eat. Unfortunately for young Mabel Jones, she elected to eat the fruits of her nose-picking labours, and as such commits "The Deed". And if you are observed doing "The Deed" by the piratical crew of the Feroshus Maggot then like Mabel, you will find yourself press-ganged, and spirited away to a strange world by the super-silent-stealthy (and we're talking ninja assassin style super-silent-stealthy here) and wonderfully appropriately named loris, Omynus Hussh.

So begins a laugh-out-loud, swashbuckling fantasy adventure, with boisterous and irascible animal pirates, and a gutsy, fiery heroine, albeit a pyjama clad one (but it's ok, as she gets to wear a belt and carry a cutlass, rather than have a leg amputated in order to look more pirate-like). It's also really rather silly, not quite in a Mr Gum way silly, but certainly not far off at times. In fact, if Spike Milligan was alive and well and writing for 21st Century children then there's a damn good chance that this is the kind of brilliant, pants-wettingly funny story he would be producing.

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones is writer Will Mabbitt's debut book for children, and if it is anything to go by then Mabbitt is certainly one to watch. His writing voice is as infectious as it is off-the-wall bonkers, making the book perfect read-out-loud-to-children material (especially if you can 'do the voices'). There is also just the right level of yuk and gross-out for 8-11 year olds, so have the masking tape and staple gun ready for when their sides start splitting with laughter.

You only need half a brain to realise these days that books like this for this age group are made even better with high quality illustrations to add to the comedy, and those good people at Penguin Children's Books obviously have the requisite 50%+. As well as the brilliant writing of Will Mabbitt, The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones features the wonderfully awesome illustrations of Ross Collins, which bring Mabbitt's colourful characters to life in a style that is somewhere between Tazzyman's crazy energy and Riddell's rich detail. Mention should also go to Mandy Norman for her dynamic, attention-grabbing text design.

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones is due to be released on 4th June. I believe there is a second adventure planned for Mabel, although I do not know when this will be published, I really hope that we will see more adventures beyond this sequel. I believe there is also an audio book version of The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones in the offing, narrated by the hugely talented Toby Jones (the voice of Dobby in the Harry Potter films, but also an incredibly talented British comedic actor). I've included a trailer below as a taster - this could be one book that needs to be bought in paper-form and in audio form.

My thanks go to the fab people at Penguin Children's Books for sending me a copy.

Review: Demolition Dad by Phil Earle

This is the story of Jake Biggs and his dad, George. George spends all week knocking down buildings ... and all weekend knocking down wrestlers. He's the Demolition Man, and Jake couldn't be prouder. But when Jake hears about a pro-wrestling competition in the USA, and persuades his beloved dad to apply, things don't quite turn out the way he expected...

If you were a child (especially one of the male variety) in the 1970s or early 1980s then I can pretty much guarantee that you spent a number of wet Saturday afternoons sat in front of the television watching wrestling on ITV's World of Sport. In these times where the US version of the 'sport' has become a multi-billion dollar industry with fans in every corner of the globe, it is hard to believe that the wrestling heroes of we Brits came from towns such as Halifax, Prestwich and Stoke-on-Trent. And yet, Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki et al were all household names in those days, before the WWF came laong and took the world by storm.

Phil Earle was obviously one of those World of Sport loving kids, if his debut book for younger readers is anything to go by. Set in the modern day, it is both an homage to those spandex leotard-wearing legends of UK wrestling and a tongue-in-cheek poke at the shallowness of the big money US version of the sport. I pre-ordered Demolition Dad months ago, as soon as I heard about it, in the hope that it would be another example of the cracking middle grade British comedy stories that I love so much, in a similar vein to Walliams and Dahl, and I certainly wasn't to be disappointed. It is laugh-out-loud funny and chock full of wonderfully engaging and endearing characters, elements that should make this a guaranteed  hit with young readers (aged 8+). 

On top of this it is also a fantastic father-and-son read, mainly due to the fabulous relationship between main character Jake, and his dad, the Demolition Man. Jake idolises his father - it is a relationship that is very reminiscent of Danny the Champion of the World, and it is great to read a book where the parents are caring and spend quality time with their children, instead of being the child-neglecting, self-centred villains of the piece. Jake has his father on a pedestal, and manages to persuade him to take up wrestling, as long as nobody outside of the family finds out. However, Jake is such a fan of his father's performances in the ring that he wants more for him - he wants millions of others to see him the way he does. Of course, this is the first ingredient in the recipe for the disaster that ensues.

And yet there is even more to this than just being a touching father and son comedy story. I don't think it is spoiling things to say that things don't quite work out for Jake's dad when he gets his chance to fight for the big money US World of Wrestling. On his return to his small hometown of Seacross, he struggles to deal with the overwhelming sense of failure he feels, and sinks into a deep depression. Phil Earle deals with this aspect of the story with great sensitivity, and it is this that raises this book from being a great read to being a Powerslam-DaddySplash-Piledriver of a read.

It would be criminal of me not to mention Sara Ogilvie's brilliant cover and interior illustrations before I sign off. They are the perfect accompaniment to Phil Earle's comedic writing voice: they add, in turn, to the humour, action and poignancy of the story as it progresses, and despite the brilliance of Earle's writing, it would be a far lesser book without them.

Illustration by Sara Ogilvie

I hope this is just the first of many books that Phil Earle will write for this age group. I have a strong suspicion that there will be more to come, and perhaps we will even see more of Jake and George Biggs in the future, as the book does finish with the tantalising "(Not) The End...". Demolition Dad is defintely one of my favourite books of the year so far.

Review: The Deadly 7 by Garth Jennings

Who needs friends when you've got MONSTERS?

Everything was happening so fast and it was all so . . . mad. It was as if someone had taken reality, made it into a jigsaw, thrown the jigsaw on to the floor and then said, "Now, hurry up and put it all together!" as they danced all over the jigsaw pieces in a clown suit, blowing a trumpet.

When Nelson's beloved big sister goes missing on a school trip, Nelson is devastated - he's not that good at making friends and his sister is the only person he can talk to. His parents join the search party and leave Nelson in the care of his mad uncle Pogo. Uncle Pogo is the caretaker of St Paul's Cathedral and it is here that Nelson stumbles across a machine, invented by Christopher Wren and buried for hundreds of years. Designed to extract the 7 deadly sins, the machine had a fault - once extracted, the sins became living, breathing monsters who would then follow the sinner around for eternity (unless they ate him first, in the case of the particularly sinful). Nelson accidentally extracts 7 deadly monsters from his own little soul. Ugly, cantankerous, smelly and often the cause of much embarrassment, Nelson's monsters are the last thing he needed in his life, but at least they're fairly harmless (he's a pretty good kid, on the whole). When he learns of their individual powers he realises the monsters can be put to good use, and together Nelson and the Deadly 7 set out on a quest across the globe to find and rescue his big sister. Somewhere along the way, Nelson realises that he finally has friends, even if they are smelly, lazy friends who like smashing stuff up.

The Deadly 7 is a monster adventure by successful director Garth Jennings and is packed full of hilariously appealing illustrations.

Garth Jennings is not the first to use the seven deadly sins as the basis for a story. From memory I can think of David Fincher's brilliant Se7en, manga series Fullmetal Alchemist, an episode of the TV series Supernatural, and the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. All of these use the sins as a vehicle for serious drama, albeit sometimes set in a fantasy world, however a good writer could just as easily use them within a comedy context. Think about it: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride could be comedy gold in the right hands, and Garth Jennings has those hands and his The Deadly 7 is one of the cleverest and funniest middle grade books you will read this year.

I have vague recollections of watching the disappointing 1970s comedy film The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins when I was in my teens. The cast list of this movie reads like a Who's Who of British comedy actors of the late 1960s/early 70s, and the list of writers is equally stellar. However, somehow it just is not as funny as it should have been, and sadly until now it is this treatment of the seven deadly sins that has remained in my memory (although many may argue that this is a far more healthy a memory for me than Fincher's Se7en). However, the memory has now been usurped by this wonderful comedy adventure story from Garth Jennings.

The blurb taken from Amazon at the beginning of this post tells you as much as I am going to about the plot of The Deadly 7, and in some ways I think that blurb tells you a little too much, but I don't think it's really my place to edit it down. However, what that blurb doesn't tell you is just how crazy this book is. In the monsterfication (made up word) of the sins he has created a team of bonkers and seriously fun comic characters (see images at the end of this post) who deserve to be spoken about with the same high praise as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Sulley and Mike, and the Minions. Even though I love films, it's not often I feel the need to see a book adapted for the big screen (mainly because I have been disappointed too many times in the past), but if The Deadly 7 were in the hands of the best that Pixar has to offer then I would be queuing up to watch it.

The story itself is far more than a comedy story - it is a fast-paced adventure story  that will have young readers hooked from the very first chapter. It is also a book that deals with loss (Nelson's big sister going missing, feared dead), but in a way that is occasionally poignant, often lighthearted, but never overbearing or upsetting for young readers. The story is also complemented by many of the author's own illustrations, some of which help bring his quirky monster creations to life for readers.

Less than three months in and 2015 is already shaping up to be another golden year for middle grade readers. I would not be surprised if The Deadly 7 makes an appearance in my top books of 2015, even though there are many months to go. It will take some pretty damn special books to knock it out of my top five. My thanks go to the fab people at Macmillan for sending me a copy to read.

Guest Post by Matt Brown (author of Compton Valance: The Time-Travelling Sandwich Bites Back)

Back at the beginning of August I posted a review of Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe, the debut book by writer Matt Brown. It was definitely one of the funniest books I have read this year, and I enjoyed it so much that when a copy arrived from those lovely people at Usborne, on the very same day that my copy of David Walliams's Awful Auntie arrived, it was Matt Brown's book that I chose to read first. Seriously, if you have a child who loves funny stories and hilarious toilet humour then I urge you to get them a copy of the first book, and when they love that go and get them a copy of this second book, which is just as funny and just as full of crazy time travel adventure as its predecessor.

Naturally, when I was asked if I would be interested in hosting a guest piece from Matt on The Book Zone and did not hesitate to say "yes, please!", so it gives me great pleasure to hand you over to Matt Brown:

Prepare yourselves for a shock.  This is me when I was ten…

When I was ten I spent a lot of time thinking about where I would go if I had a time machine.  This was probably due to my love of time travel telly, books and movies. I always wondered what life will be like in the future – and lots of the Science Fiction stories I loved at this age helped me imagine what the future might look like. I think my fascination might also have something to do with the fact that I was born in the last half of the last century.  As a kid in the 1980s I always tried to picture what my life would be like in the year 2000, which at the time seemed like an impossibly long way into the future.  I thought that we’d all be eating pills for food and living with robots.

If you have read the first book in the Compton Valance series, you might have noticed some references to some of my favourite sci-fi stories. For example, Compton Valance’s horrible teacher is called Mr Strickland.  I got Strickland’s name from Back To The Future because Marty McFly’s horrible teacher is called… Mr Strickland. And you might have noticed that Compton lives in Morlock Cottage.  I got the name Morlock from HG Well’s classic time travel book, The Time Machine.  The Morlocks are a fictional species from over 800,000 years in the future.  This reference is continued in the third Compton book that I’ve just finished writing with a new character called Lola Weena.

Doctor Who was also a show that I loved as a kid (and as an adult).  I really love how this crazy, oddly-dressed British bloke travels around through space and time and into the darkest corners of the universe.  My character Samuel Nathaniel Daniels, part man-from-the-future and part civil servant, wears a tight silver suit and a tiny bowler hat perched on top of his head. This look was definitely inspired by the strange wardrobe of clothes that The Doctor wears. 

So many other sci-fi stories have inspired me and while their influence might not be as obvious as the ones I’ve mentioned, their grip on me as a writer was just as powerful.  Stories like The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, the world of Judge Dredd in the 2000AD comics, TV shows like Buck Rogers and movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey.  All of these stories and a whole load more have in some way, small and large, wheedled their way in to my Compton Valance stories.  Some were intended and others were accidental. But then that’s the wonderful thing about writing, isn’t it?  We are all magpies, collecting references wherever we go and readying them to line our story nests at a moment’s notice.

When you read the book see if you can spot the other influences that have made it in!

~~~

Matt Brown is the author of the Compton Valance series, two fantastically funny and delightfully disgusting time-travelling adventures, perfect for fans of The Wimpy Kid and David Walliams. The second book in the series, The Time-Travelling Sandwich Bites Back, is out now.

For more information and loads of fun things to do visit www.comptonvalance.com. You can also follow Matt on Twitter at @frazzleddaddy. 

Review: Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe by Matt Brown

When Compton Valance and his best friend Bryan Nylon discover the world's first TIME MACHINE (aka a mouldy, thirteen-week-old-cheese-and-pickled-egg sandwich), they become the most powerful boys in the universe. But how will Compton and Bryan decide to use their incredible new time-travelling powers? Will they use them for good? Will they use them for evil? Or will they just focus their efforts on perfecting a formula for the world's first pair of custard trousers? Things are about to get totally scrambled for Compton Valance.

This is how Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe opens:

Do you need to read any further to know that a child is just so going to love this book? Okay, so maybe we shouldn't judge a book from its first page (even though so many kids do exactly this), so how about a page from a little further into the book:

Yep, from beginning to end Matt Brown's debut book for kids is laugh-out-loud funny, and chock full of toilet humour, crazy adventure and ridiculous characters with even more ridiculous names (Bryan Nylon, Bernard 'Strictly' Strickland and Samuel Nathaniel Daniels, to name but three). 

Time travel does lend itself perfectly to comedy adventures, but Compton's adventures through time are almost secondary to everything else in this book. The sheer overwhelming (in a good way) force that is the humour hits you squarely between the eyes on page on, and leaves you in a giggling mess with snot dribbling down your chin come the final page. But that's not to say the plot suffers, although younger readers may struggle at times with the way their travelling through time repeatedly messes with timelines. More confident readers, who are able to focus on the plot whilst rolling on the floor laughing at the jokes, should have little problem following the story, especially as Matt Brown very kindly includes occasional footnotes as an aid (and, of course, to add even more comedy).

Matt Brown's comedy words are aided and abetted by the wonderful and madcap cartoon-style illustrations of Lizzie Finlay, who I am sure also had a hand in the way the text is presented, with varying typeface styles and sizes, adding emphasis and impact to the humour in the same way a live stand-up comedian would use timing. 

Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe is the first in what I hope will be a lengthy series. In my opinion, it is much funnier than the Wimpy kid and Captain Underpants stories, and Matt Brown is another author to add to the growing list of homegrown talent that are now beginning to rival the likes of Jeff Kinney and Dave Pilkey. If you want to find out more about Matt Brown and his book then I urge you to head on over to the Compton valance micro-site at www.comptonvalance.com. The book is also featuring as part of Pizza Hut's The Hut Book Club until September so if you're heading out for pizza look out for samplers.

Compton Valance: The Most Powerful Boy in the Universe was published at the beginning of June, and its sequel, Compton Valance: The Time Travelling Sandwich Bites Back is due to be published in October. My thanks go the the fab people at Usborne for sending me a copy of the book.

Review: Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie by Jeff Norton

'My name is Adam Meltzer and the last thing I remember was being stung by a bee while swinging at a robot-shaped piñata on my twelfth birthday. I was dead before the candy hit the ground.'

Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie is narrated by the hilarious Adam Meltzer - pre-teen, worrywart, and now zombie. Adam's family gets the fright of their lives when he turns up at their door . . . three months after his funeral.

Soon Adam's back at school trying to fit in and not draw extra attention to himself, but when he sees his neighbour Ernesto transform into a chupacubra, and the beautiful Corina (Adam's number one mega-crush) turns out to be a (vegan) vampire, undead life is never going to be the same again.

A hilarious adventure caper - if Ferris Bueller met Shaun of the Dead - all about friendship and being yourself . . . even if you're undead.

I love Jeff Norton's MetaWars series. The story is the perfect blade of action, adventure and science fiction, all set in a brilliantly imagined dystopian future. I was therefore really excited to see Jeff at a blogger event held by Faber as this could only mean that he had a new book coming out. And then, I was even more than a little surprised when we were told about his new book, Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie, as on the face of it it could not have been more different from his previous work (of which I would happily have read more and more). My slight disappointment evaporated as soon as Jeff started reading the prologue to Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie. He had the room in tears of laughter, a feat that he repeated a couple of months later when he appeared at the Wonder of Words festival that I organised.

In his main character and narrator, Adam Meltzer, Jeff Norton has created a protagonist that will have readers in stitches. And if you thought zombies had been done to death (pun intended) then think again: a teen zombie with OCD? It is such a great concept as Adam's neurosis open things up for all kinds of puerile jokes (in the very best kind of way), and in particular to loads of great references to poo, germs and other toilet humour that kids will find hilarious.

Adam isn't the only great character in this book, as fortunately for him he is aided and abetted by two other kids who can only be described as unsual (ok, maybe weird is a better word, however unkind it may seem). First there is Ernesto, Adam's diminutive neighbour who just happens to turn into a Chupacabra during a full moon (it's a sort of mythological lizard ape hybrid thing) and then there is Corina, the object of Adam's (secret) affections who also happens to be a vegan vampire. Together they make a great team, and take it upon themselves to find out just how on earth a mere bee sting could kill Adam and then have him come back as a zombie.

Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie is one hell of a funny read, and with this new book Jeff Norton proves to the world that he is certainly no one trick pony. I hope this is just the first in a long series as I think there are so many more adventures this oddball trio could have in the future. It is also the kind of book that I think will benefit from word-of-mouth 'promotion'. Like the Wimpy Kid books, once one child as read it they are bound to tell all of their friends who will then also want to read it. If you're looking for something to make your 9+ child laugh out loud this summer then this should certainly be on your radar.

Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie is published on 7th August and my thanks go to the lovely people at Faber for sending me a copy.