Dave Pigeon, the star of his self-titled first book, introduced us to the unseen world of a fairly ordinary everyday pigeon. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em (I must admit I've got no love whatsoever for the big fat wood pigeons who coo us awake at 4.30 in the morning every spring) but nevertheless Dave and his sidekick Skipper are ready to rock and roll...
...at least they would be if they weren't so HUNGRY! You see their human lady has rather rudely disappeared off on one of those 'human holiday things' and so the garden feeding tables and bird feeders are rapidly becoming empty (not exactly helped by Dave and Skipper's huge appetites).
Pigeons - much like cats - don't really mind roughing it with a whole new owner if it means a square meal, so enter Reginald Grimster. He's happy to feed Dave and Skipper, but almost TOO happy if you know what we mean (cue: dramatic evil music).
Does Reginald have another meal in mind? A meal that Dave and Skipper really don't want to (literally) end up part of?
Swapna's humour is bang on the nail, once again making us snort with laughter like a pair of dribbling hyenas with a rapid-fire combination of fantastic pigeon-ey insights. If you've ever looked sideways at a chicken nugget and wondered "is that really chicken?" then you're going to enjoy this one as much as the first book as it's F.A.BLIMMIN.BEEEEE!
Charlotte's best bit: Endlessly regurgitating her favourite conversational bits (in rather expertly delivered pigeonese of course!)
Daddy's favourite bit: Forget all these primped and preening comedy stars writing books, Swapna's here to show you how to REALLY make kids laugh like drains! Absolutely fantastic stuff!
"Dave Pigeon - Nuggets" by Swapna Haddow and Sheena Dempsey is out now, published by Faber and Faber (kindly supplied for review)