"Mr Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise" surprised us at first by the sheer size of the book, giving kids plenty of story to dig into as Mr Penguin heads off on a cruise ship for his latest case.
Oddly, despite being a penguin, he's not exactly a fan of water and can't swim. But the briny deep will be the least of his worries, as in grand style there's a mystery afoot - and if there's one thing Peng definitely does like it's solving a tricky puzzle or two!
With best chum Colin performing in the ladies choir on board, and the lure of 24-hour-a-day fish finger sarnie availability, Mr Penguin feels that it might actually be a lovely rest, and a chance to recuperate after all his previous adventures. But nefarious characters on board ship have other ideas...
Alex pulls out all the stops - both in the brilliantly funny storytelling department, and in his utterly fantastic illustrations, really bringing the dodgy characters at the heart of this new mystery to life.
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| Is it me, or is that woman slightly suspicious? |
Superb stuff for young adventure fans, Mr Penguin once again sails effortlessly into our book of the week slot to make it his own!
"Mr Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise" by Alex T. Smith is out now, published by Hodder Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).