Kids Blog

Don’t Pat the Wombat by Elizabeth Honey

“Queen Victoria was Empress of half the world.  She owned palaces and huge armies.  Mighty sultans gave her precious jewels.  But she didn’t have any underpants.”

Queen Victoria’s Underpants by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley is a cheeky new picture book all about the making of the Queen’s bloomers! It’s filled with funny illustrations and the story kept me smiling right through till the end. I especially loved the author’s note which explains how women at the beginning of the 1800s hardly even wore underpants until Queen Vic made them popular – so that women could do fun stuff like bike riding and horse riding without accidentaly showing something rude! I thought this story had a neat and interesting way of teaching a bit about Victorian history.

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future is the latest from the creator of Captain Underpants. It’s due out in August.

Why wait! Reserve your copy to read now!

Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos takes off  by Jacqueline Jules & artwork by Miguel Benítez

This book does not have hard words. It is fun to read.  I liked the pictures. I liked the story.

15 out of 5 stars

Review by Teddy

Wow!  Good news for all you series fans; each one of this month’s Kids’ Choice is part of a series, so each one of these books could lead you on to loads of great reading.

Percy Jackson and The Sea Of Monsters Rick Riordan

Book number two in this fabulous series which a 13 year old demigod ….  I could tell you the story, or you could should just read it!

I spy treasure hunt Jean Marzollo & Wick Walter

This I Spy book has a linear story that you follow through the book. That sounds boring, it isn’t, it’s really very cool. Spend some time hunting through it yourself.

Lessons for a werewolf warrior Jackie French

This is the first book in a new series, School for Heroes. Tag along with Boojum Bark and discover how to open a wormhole,  how to defeat bogeys armed with only a zombie sausage, and why heroes need to wear pants.

Just Shocking Andy Griffiths/ Terry Denton

More outrageous fun with Andy.  This is the sixth and last book in the phenomenal Just series, of short stories with cool illustrations. This book is worth reading for the list of 101 dangerous things alone.

Spylet on Ice Jill Marshall

Book #5 in the popular Jane Blonde series. Copernicus is up to no good can Jane save the world again? Another rollicking adventure from this kicking spylet with plenty of snowy goodness.

John Johnson is a bit weird. He falls apart – literally.  A sneeze can blast his head off  and his hands can run about by themselves. He can pull himself together from assembled bits in the same time it takes to make a Vegemite sandwich. But he’s never had to pack himself into a suitcase before, or be posted to the USA to rescue his best friend Crystal. She’s been kidnapped by a crime boss with four arms – oh no.

The Detachable Boy with one loose foot by Scot Gardner and illustrated by Heath McKenzie is a crazy adventure about friendship, body parts and hamburgers.

Two Brilliant new Graphic-Novels for Children:

The Clouds Above by Jordan Crane

My favourite weather is mist. My second favourite weather is rain. It has been very rainy in Wellington recently. I love it.

Have you ever heard people say that rain is the clouds crying? My sister used to say that, and this book proves she was right.

“The Clouds Above” is a graphic-novel with wonderful pictures that recounts “the terribly terrific and tremendously true travels of Simon and Jack”. Simon is a boy with a wicked teacher, Jack is a cat with a long tail; they are best friends. Simon and Jack arrive at school late; instead of facing the wrath of Simon’s teacher Missus Poe, they risk a trip up a flight of stairs and into the clouds. “We should go back down- you’re missing school” meows Jack, “but I don’t miss it at all!” Simon replies. Missus Poe might be scary but so is some of the stuff above: mean birds, thunder, fear of heights, mean birds again, cold and an evil storm with (dun, dun, dun) a heart of darkness. Remember though, they are best friends and with the help of a sad and lonely cloud they find their way back to clearer skies. Apparently “a rained on cat is no cat at all” but Jack is the best kind of cat, and I would love to go on adventures in the sky with a friend like that.

This is a beautiful, short book which is nice to hold.

Reflections of a Solitary Hamster by Astrid Desbordes and Pauline Martin

My favourite food is Ice Cream. Hamster’s favourite food is waffles. Hamster is a very selfish Hamster and he never shares his waffles. Lucky for Hamster he has lovely friends: Mole, Hedgehog, Snail, Squirrel and Rabbit, and they like him even though he is selfish, lazy and a bit arrogant.

“Reflections of a Solitary Hamster” is another graphic-novel about friendship. Astrid Desbordes- the author – and Pauline Martin- the illustrator- work together to reveal snippets of life on a pretty, big sky prairie. Sometimes I wonder what my friends do at the end of the day, when the party is over, when there are no more biscuits and when they tuck themselves into bed. What do they think about? This hilarious book shows you. The animals ponder their lives, their anxieties and walnuts as they get ready for; (drum roll please): Hamster’s birthday! However odd and imperfect they may be, this book is still very funny and full of kindness:

“Hedgehog, will you dance with me?”

“With me? Oh, yes please, Mole. No one has ever asked me to dance before, because of my prickles”

“And no one asks me because I step on my partners paws”

“Then let’s fingertip dance, okay?”

Okay.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

I think James and the Giant Peach is a great book with a great storyline. I give this book 4 stars because of the long description. It is still a good book.

 By Hamish of Johnsonville

The Pickle King by Rebecca Promitzer

It was a great read, a really funny book, and a cool adventure. 5 stars.

 Review by Amelia of Mount Cook

Spud by John van de Ruit

Spud is generally a book which will have you rolling around laughing about half the time. It follows John ‘Spud’ Milton as he spends his first year at an elite boys only private school. The adventures he has there are only to be described as absolutely and madly funny. But even outside school his family are a constant pain, with about everything possible going wrong for them.

Causing the most chaos at school are his house, nicknamed ‘the crazy eight’ (for good reason too!). The funniest (definitely!) book I’ve read. This is a great and appealing read for boys, and one I would highly recommend.

This is only the first book in the series and is being filmed as a movie because it is the fastest selling book in South Africa – and I can see why! 5 stars.

Review by Aaron of Johnsonville