#Review By Lou of Miss Cat By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet @thamesandhudson #GraphicNovel #MissCat #MiddleGrade #ReadingForPleasure #BlogTour @RandomTTours

Miss Cat (Graphic Novel)
By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet

Graphic Novels have been on a rise and rise for years, with certain series now being firm favourites of children and teens alike. They, especially encourage reading for those who don’t think that’s for them and are termed “reluctant readers” and show a different type of book to add to the pile of the more exuberant, proficient readers.
Miss Cat is a great mystery for the young middle-grade readers.
Discover the blurb and my review of the first in a brand new series in this genre below.
Thanks to the publisher and authors, I also have a couple of pages and the cover to show you. You’ll see them as you go down this blog post.

Synopsis

The first book in an irresistible new graphic novel series for young readers, featuring a cool detective dressed in her cat-ear hoodie.
Meet Miss Cat, a private eye with ears on her hat and a nose for mystery!
Mr Titula, a sad old man, comes to see Miss Cat at the old dairy shop she uses as an
office. Someone has kidnapped his canary, Harry, his pride and joy! He begs the young detective to find him.
So, Miss Cat sets on the trail of Harry and a strange couple, the sultry Doris and the aggressive Jean-Pøl, a talking dog.
What could they be trying to hide? And could the senile Titula and the dashing Titus the Magnificent, a magician with extraordinary powers, be the same person?
Miss Cat, who thinks she’s a cat and hides underneath a large hoodie with cat ears, is a perfect new heroine to encourage children to read. With a Scandi-noir mood, Joëlle Jolivet’s dynamic illustrations and Jean-Luc Fromental’s thrilling plot and irresistible dialogues whisk young readers through Miss Cat’s crime-solving adventures!

Review

Miss Cat is quite the private eye, all clad in her cat-like hoodie. It’s a story that entertains and is quite the magical page-turner, with short chapters for 7-10 year olds, with its intriguing characters. There’s Miss Cat, a human who has set-up a detective agency and wears a cat-like outfit. She has dealings with Olaf the talking octopus, a member of the Octopus 6, Wolfgang who’s a talking dog and Maximus and Doris who are humans.

The book is entertaining with its mystery of a talking canary being bird-napped, magic and humour. You get a really good feel for the captivating characters in what’s great story-telling. What do the digits mean? Why are they so important to some of the characters? There’s goodies and baddies and a whole lot of fun for readers.

All is well-illustrated in a fun way, original way, that builds a good amount of atmosphere in what becomes a good page-turner.
It will leave children wanting more…

It would sit well with anyone’s collection of graphic novels, from schools to libraries to personal collections.
This is certainly one for children to look out for.
I’d certainly review more, given the opportunity.
The second will be ‘The Gnome’s Nightmare’.

#Review By Lou of Miss Cat By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet @thamesandhudson #GraphicNovel #MissCat #MiddleGrade #ReadingForPleasure #BlogTour @RandomTTours

Miss Cat (Graphic Novel)
By Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet

Synopsis

Review

All is well-illustrated in a fun way, original way, that builds a good amount of atmosphere in what becomes a good page-turner.
It will leave children wanting more…

#BookReview By Lou of The Duck With No Luck #GemmaMerino @MacmillanKidsUK #ChildrensBook #PictureBook #TheDuckWithNoLuck

The Duck With No Luck
By Gemma Merino

Children love having fun with the book – The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water, which I’ve had the pleasure to read to many children, so it’s with pleasure that I review the picture book – The Duck With No Luck. It’s suitable for pre-schoolers and the early years of primary school.

Blurb

What’s a fed-up duck who feels all out of luck supposed to do? Go and ask a wise owl for help, of course! But watch out for the hungry Fox . . .

From the award-winning Gemma Merino, author of the The Crocodile Who Didn’t Like Water, The Duck With No Luck is a funny, uplifting and reassuring tale about how to tackle the ups and downs of life, take a more positive look at things and appreciate all you have.

After a particularly unlucky moment, Duck has had enough! Heading off to ask Wise Owl why he’s so unlucky, he comes across a lonely Swan, a hungry Fox and a bare tree, all looking for answers of their own. Will Wise Owl’s advice help Duck to find his luck after all? And has he just been looking in the wrong place all along?

Review

It’s half-term holidays for many people and books can be just the “ticket” to entertain and spend cosy times together.

The Duck With No Luck has great rhythm throughout the humorous plot. Join the journey as you follow Duck who is on a quest to find his luck. Will he be able to find it? Along the way you come across Wise Owl, Swan and Fox who Duck hopes can help. Books where different animals are met brings adventure, no matter how long or short and this one has a good pace to it.

The moral is to appreciate what is around you more and see this as being lucky, which in turn helps with emotional and resilience building. It is great that that there is humour and illustrations throughout, which makes it fun for children.

It’s a great book to read independently or with adults at home, in a nursery/ELC/school, Bookbug and rhyme time sessions.

#Review by Lou of Bus Rhymes and Playtime By Sue Wickstead @JayJayBus @rararesources #blogtour #childrensbook #picturebook #songs #rhymes

Bus Rhymes and Playtimes
By Sue Wickstead

Today I have a review of a book that’s perfect for on the bus or for play. Check out the blurb and review below.

Blurb

Bus Rhymes to sing along with.

Have you got your ticket ready?

Where will you go today?

Why not jump onboard the bus –

Come along to sing and play.

So take your seat as off we go.

What could happen along the way?

Review

Hop on a bus! Where will you go today? Go on an adventure through song and rhyme with Bus Rhymes and Play Times. It’s so much fun for young children. There is a great selection of rhymes and songs, some my be more familiar than others, but all just as entertaining and interactive as the next.
Feast your eyes on the illustrations, they’re all there, big, bright and bold for all to see, just to enhance the experience.

The rhymes and songs are easy for children and adults alike to pick up and you can have fun with the illustrations in imaginative play and discussion.

Hop aboard and have fun today!

#Review by Lou of The Wonder Brothers By Frank Cottrell-Boyce @frankcottrell_b @MacmillanKidsUK #ChildrensBook #MiddleGrade #TheWonderBrothers

The Wonder Brothers
By Frank Cottrell-Boyce

A joyous, magical book that is perfect for the holidays to feed imaginations. If you like Roald Dahl and if you like fun, you’re sure to like this book. It is perfect for reading for pleasure at home and at school. It’s great for children aged between 8 and 10. Find out more in the blurb and then my full review below. Thanks to Macmillan Kids for gifting me this book in-exchange of an honest review.

Blurb

No matter how big the show, family, friendship and adventure shine through in The Wonder Brothers by multi-award-winning author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, illustrated throughout by Steven Lenton.

‘Maybe you don’t believe me. Maybe you don’t believe in magic. I bet you will by the time you’ve heard what happened to us.’

Cousins Middy and Nathan love magic. The on-stage, cape-swirling, bunny-out-of-a-hat kind.

For Middy, it’s all about patience and practice. She uses magic skills to help her out of tricky situations.

Nathan is a show-off and a total danger magnet, he is drawn to the sensation, spectacle and audience.

So when the famous Blackpool Tower dramatically vanishes the night of the Grand Lights Switch-On, showman Nathan announces live on TV that they will magic it back home.

With a stick of rock, a spangly cape, and a bit of misdirection, they end up lost in Las Vegas, home to the grand master of illusion, Perplexion, ‘Legend of Magic’.

Full of tricks, twists and deceptions, the delightful Nathan and Middy will keep you guessing until the very end.

Review

Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s writing in The Wonder Brothers (his latest book) is sure to please many children and wholly spark imaginations. This is, after all, a fun, imaginative caper.

Travel to Blackpool, on the west coast of northern England with cousins – Middy and Nathan to see the delights of the seaside, famous for its stick of rock, the pleasure beach, full of rides, the sea and sand, donkeys, trams, stage shows and of course, even more famous than that – Blackpool Tower.

Middy and Nathan have a magic act and go by the name – The Wonder Brothers. The tricks are fun and there’s mischief with their rabbit. There’s even more hi-jinx when suddenly, Blackpool Tower disappears. The book becomes more mysterious at that point. It is a book with twists and turns as the mystery of the whereabouts of Blackpool Tower takes the intrepid pair to Las Vegas. It’s quite an adventure and one kids will love to get on-board with to help solve the puzzle.

This magical is packed full of comical capers, laugh out loud humour and a lot of magic. It’s a must read for the summer and beyond.

#Review By Lou of The Secret School Invasion by Pamela Butchart @Pamela_Butchart @NosyCrow #ChildrensFiction #Humour #MiddleGrade

The Secret School Invasion
By Pamela Butchart

Pamela Butchart has written this as part of the laugh-out-loud series and readers 7 plus are in for a treat. She is known for writing so many children’s books including the Wigglesbottom primary and many more, always with a sense of humour that children appreciate and adults can have fun reading along or to them.

Blurb

The twelfth book in the laugh-out-loud series from Blue Peter Best Story Award winners Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham, perfect for 7+ readers!

Izzy’s school is being merged with St Bartholomew’s Primary, their GREATEST RIVALS! What will happen when the new kids join, in their too-shiny shoes and with their too-loud singing? And what if they’ve got a secret mission and that mission is a BAD mission? Only Izzy and her friends can discover the truth, even if they must go SO DEEP UNDERCOVER that they might not come back…

Hilarious, pitch-perfect stories where everyday school life becomes completely extraordinary, with laughs on every page!

Review

Humour and laugh out loud, this book most definitely is. Children are going to love it! There’s even a mystery thrown in. This is better than any normal school day because it is extraordinary and will make children wishing days were more like these, in some ways. Oh, but hang on, will they come back from their mission? You have to read the book for that.

The writing is exquisite in a very fun way for children to just relax and it’s one to gather friends around and have a laugh. Pleasure will most certainly come with reading this zany book.

I can see why the author is a Blue Peter Best Story Award Winner. Her many books have that humorous quality, whether it is for younger children with books such as ‘Never Tickle A Tiger’ or Middle Grade such as this one. This is a book to watch out for.