ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week: Week Ending 4th October 2019: "Flember, the Secret Book" by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

I know what you're thinking. This is the chapter book of the week slot, so what's that saucy young scamp Jamie Smart doing languishing in it?

Well, Jamie has made the move into middle grade with his first awesome adventure for a dynamic duo par excellence.

In "Flember: The Secret Book" you'll meet brilliant hero Dev: inventor of the insanely smelly cheese-powered rocket boots, the washtopus, bee energy and many more things that drive his mum and brother crazy!

Dev's crazy contraptions and connivances get even more out of control when he finds a secret book, filled with even more insane instructions. Drawn into a crazy world of bizarre characters including Fervus the Goat and Boja the giant bright scarlet robotic bear, Dev must try and rectify the complete chaos he's wrought before the mysterious force of Flember disappears from his home forever.

Crafted with the same sort of insane genius chaotic lunacy as Jamie's regular strips in "The Phoenix", this is the sort of middle grade book that can win over reluctant readers, and performs the rather neat trick of not being quite like anything else out there at the moment (something that must've driven PR and marketing folk absolutely stark staring mad, with their penchant for describing nearly every funny middle grade book as "The Next Dahl" or "The Next Walliams").

C has long been a fan of Jamie's comics, and couldn't wait to dig into this one. We described her reaction as "Snirts" - sort of a cross between sniggers and snorts as she read through this, before bestowing "Book of the Week" honours on it, and demanding that Jamie writes more middle grade, as this is an absolute winner.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Crazy, chaotic, inventive and completely nutso, filled with the sort of characters Jamie excels at creating, a masterful move into middle grade from a comic genius - definitely time to get Flembered!

"Flember: The Secret Book" by Jamie Smart is out now, published by David Fickling Books (kindly supplied for review).