The Rise and Fall of Oscar the Magician by Matthew Porter (Little Bigfoot / Sasquatch Books)

Matthew Porter's brilliant little "Monkey World" series is always fun and original. Let's take a look at the latest story, and a pair of talented monkey magicians!
Monkeys belong in children's stories. They really do! If there's ever an animal that can match a child's energy, imagination and sheer busy-ness it's a monkey.

In Matthew Porter's "Monkey World" books, monkeys get up to all sorts of hilarious adventures and we've caught up with the series as a new story is being published by Little BigFoot / Sasquatch.

The star of this tale of primate prestidigitation is a very talented monkey named Oscar. Humble Oscar is extemely good at conjuring tricks and can't wait to compete in the annual monkey magic awards. However Oscar has a rival - a rival who is equally talented but a bit of a rotten egg, who will stop at nothing to firmly put a gigantic hole in Oscar's plans for fortune and glory.

Milton The Magnificent has won just about every award out there, and is desperate to add the Magician of the Year award to his trophy cabinet. So desperate in fact that he will stop at nothing to scupper Oscar's plans, even during his acts!

Strangely though, luck is on Oscar's side - with each and every nasty prank Milton plays, Oscar's act seems to be even more well received by the audience who assume that the crazy mishaps are all part of Oscar's repertoire. Milton has one final card up his sleeve - a nefarious bit of hypnotism involving the theft of a valuable artifact. Will Oscar finally be put out of the competition by rotten Milton once and for all?

We'll leave you to discover what happens at the end of this wholly original and entertaining tale. Oscar is a fabulous little monkey character (and we even found a bit of love for Milton, a classic baddie who will stop at nothing to achieve his aims). Ultimately though we really thought this book was a brilliant slice of fun and a great introduction to a story series we'll definitely be reading more of as soon as we can!

Charlotte's favourite bit: Oscar's death defying unicycle high wire act

Daddy's favourite bit: Milton is such an awesome baddie, you can almost hear his cackling evil laugh as he hatches plan after plan to try and subvert his rival's act. Brilliantly funny!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Little Bigfoot / Sasquatch Books)

"The Rise and Fall of Oscar the Magician (A Monkey World Adventure)"

Written and Illustrated by Matthew Porter

Published by Little BigFoot / Sasquatch Books

Release Date: 7th October 2015