Wednesday, 8 August 2018

"Molly Mischief: When I Grow Up" by Adam Hargreaves (Pavilion Children's Books)

She's back. That naughtiest of naughty little girls, musing on a question that many kids may ask themselves at one time or another...
"What do I want to be when I grow up?"

In Adam Hargreaves' new "Molly Mischief: When I grow up!" the pint-sized scamp is asking herself precisely that question.

As you'd expect from a girl like Molly, she's not just going to be content with just any old job.

Nope Molly thinks she might want to be a Fireman, or perhaps an astronaut.

Maybe even a baker of the world's most fabulous cakes.

It's such a difficult choice to make but Molly feels like she could do with trying a little bit of each job first just to make sure, with hilarious (and chaotic) consequences.

We're still in two minds about the Molly Mischief books. On the one hand, they fulfil a bit of vicarious naughtiness for kids who find Molly's various chaotic antics hilarious fun (much to the annoyance and exasperation of her parents).

Hmm. Never thought of hiding unwanted dinner veg in interesting places like this. Don't get any ideas, little miss!
C finds her a bit annoying - but I think that's because she seems to get away with a LOT of mischief and naughtiness - which just doesn't happen in real life (according to her anyway).

Astro-naughty! Yep, that's Molly!
I feel like they're missing something but I can't quite put my finger on what. There is a whopping great big positive message here though, and I think that's hopefully what Adam was aiming for. Kids can be whatever they want to be, girl or boy - and it's great to see that books are picking up on that and passing on that valuable message to children.

C's best bit: Molly's monstrous cake.

Daddy's favourite bit: Important messages about believing you can achieve anything are definitely the most appealing part of this book. But why can we not bring ourselves to like Molly more?

"Molly Mischief: When I grow up" by Adam Hargreaves is out on 6th September 2018, published by Pavilion Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).