Our Chapter Book of the Week is the glorious third book for an intrepid hero who embraces adventure with aplomb, in a middle grade series that's just chock full of giggles, awesome characters and compelling stories.

"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...

Is it me, or is that woman slightly suspicious?

Phew! Can you believe this is book 14 in Rachel Renee Russell's amazing and hugely successful book series?

The whoop of glee from C that announced the arrival of "Dork Diaries: Spectacular Superstar" could probably have been heard right across the Atlantic - as we once again join Nikki Maxwell and her school chums for another round of craziness, Maxwell style!

Nikki and her bandmates are looking forward to an AWESOME time on tour as the opening act for the world famous Bad Boyz! 

This week we wanted to squeeze in a very special Chapter Book of the week, and a brand new adventure from a super-talented Paralympian and presenter, and illustrated by a real blog favourite.

"Cyborg Cat and the Night Spider" by Ade Adepitan and Carl Pearce once again weaves a brilliant adventure with a super-cool hero protagonist.

Ade loves playing football and he's amazing in goal, despite the heavy metal caliper he has to wear on his leg.

Our Chapter Book of the Week follows something of a book trend we've noticed of late - and one that we're wholeheartedly behind.

The trend for highly illustrated but 'meatier' chapter-based stories is fantastic and definitely something we want to see more of. But oh, imagine the delight of seeing a book beloved from childhood making a comeback in a gorgeous hardbacked edition like this.

Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" with illustrations by Christian Birmingham is one of the most beautiful editions (fittingly) of this classic tale.

I remember the amount of flak I got for wanting to read this as a kid. "It's a girl's book, why do you want to read that?" - you can probably imagine the sort of thing. Yet back then there was a TV adaptation that was mesmerisingly good (and yep, Judy Bowker was probably a first crush) so I just had to read the book. I wasn't quite prepapred for a story that was entirely unique - told from the perspective of Beauty himself, a glorious black horse whose life is destined for adventure, peril and excitement.

When Black Beauty took his first faltering steps as a foal, he could not have imagined the life ahead of him.

Our Chapter Book of the Week reminds me of a little boy who was properly obsessed with this character as a little kid. He would dress up in scruffy clothes, cover his face in dirt, and stop to stand, arms outstretched, at every single farm or field gate whenever we were out on a walk.

My little brother will be overjoyed to see a whole new edition of "Worzel Gummidge" by Barbara Euphan Todd, with new illustrations by Peter Cottrill.

My bro was obsessed with the Jon Pertwee series, and collected just about all the books, annuals and merchandise that sprang up from that show.

Now with a new TV series (starring Mackenzie Crook, inspired casting if ever we've seen it), old Worzel's about to fascinate (and possibly terrify) a whole new generation of kids.

But let's dip into Barbara's amazing book - coming from an era when kids still loved to play outdoors, largely unsupervised - and the thought of befriending an animated character made out of mangelworzels and straw wouldn't seem at all sinister.

Barbara's gentle first novel acts as introduction and initial adventure for John, Susan and Worzel as they spend an idyllic summer at Scatterbrook Farm. You can almost feel the bittersweet innocence and melancholy coming from every page.

Many books followed, and I'm hoping that these all get an outing too - harking back to a period of history that is rapidly becoming lost, as Worzel embarks on adventures at the circus, or in the novels where he first discovers Aunt Sally at the village fair, or Saucy Nancy, the figurehead of a lost treasure ship.

Brilliantly written, beautifully gentle and hopefully a fantastic precursor to an awesome new TV show. Welcome back Worzel, it's great to see your return!

Sum this book up a sentence: A whimsical and brilliant slice of childhood back to dazzle a whole new generation of fans.

"Worzel Gummidge" by Barbara Euphan Todd and Peter Cottrill is out now, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Our Chapter Book of the Week is a gorgeous story anthology that reinforces the message that women can be every bit as brave, mighty, heroic and strong as their male counterparts.

"Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls" comes with a foreword from Kate Pankhurst, author of "Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World" and this sets the tone perfectly for the collected stories you'll find in this fabulous book.

Various authors and illustrators pull together an amazing selection of traditional tales that were once very well known, but have been lost to history - overshadowed by stories about brave princes and damsels that need to be rescued rather than rescuing themselves.

Our Chapter Book of the Week proves once again that dystopic fiction is alive, and well, and positively thriving in middle grade once again, hooray!!

"The Last Human" by Lee Bacon is the sort of story we absolutely love on the blog. It sets out its stall in the most thrilling way, depicting a world where humans have long become extinct through our completely stupid self-destructive ways.

But the world isn't silent or still. Amazing intelligent robots are everywhere, and twelve year old robot XR-935 is absolutely happy to live in a world where humans no longer pose a threat to robotkind.

There's no more war, no pollution, no crime, none of that messy 'falling in love' business - and the world is now a utopia - if a slightly sterile and robotic one.

However XR-935 is about to discover something that threatens to change all that, and may be the only hope for survival for someone unexpected. A 12 year old human girl who, by all accounts, is entirely impossible!

How will robot society deal with this girl and will XR-935 discover an unlikely friend?

We don't want to spoil too much about this one, suffice to say that it feels like the sort of book I would completely consume in one sitting as a kid (and in fact C pretty much did just that, then was kind enough to let me have a read afterwards, very good of her!)

There are so many clever twists to the tale as XR and his new-found human friend embark on a dangerous quest that could have major implications for the future of robotkind.

But for now we'll sit back, give you a knowing wink, and tell you that this is a book that you absolutely need to experience yourself, that covers the nuances of prejudice and friendship, of climate change and adjusting to world-shattering change all in space of a story that will long stick in your mind.

Sum this book up in a sentence: Intelligent, witty and thought-provoking all at the same time, this is a superb slice of scifi for middle graders.

"The Last Human" by Lee Bacon is out now, published by Piccadilly Press (kindly supplied for review). 

This week's amazing Chapter Book of the Week is brought to you by a supreme talent in kidlit, a mighty storyteller and illustrator par excellence who brings a touch of style and dark humour to everything he creates.

"Guardians of Magic (The Cloud Horse Chronicles Book 1)" by Chris Riddell is very much cause for celebration, as is any new book Chris is involved in.

But it's his books as author and illustrator that have always garnered most of our attention - and ironically we had to put aside a re-reading of his thoroughly brilliant "Goth Girl" books to delve into this one.

The story opens with an atmospheric and immersive bookworld steeped in fantasy, reigned over by magical humans and mythical creatures. 

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). 

Our Chapter Book of the Week feels like a glimpse into what's fast becoming our near future - a drowned planet where most of our current major cities are underwater.

I've always been drawn to dystopic stories, and "Flood World" by Tom Huddleston is one of the best middle grade dystopia novels I've read in a long time - so good in fact that even C (who usually goes for books with slightly happier / funnier settings) couldn't resist its lure either.

We both polished this one off in a couple of sittings, so let's get to the nitty gritty of what makes this such a mesmerising book.

You know a book has gone down well with "The Boss" if the first thing she asks, a mere chapter in, is "Are there any more books in this series?"

That was very much the case with our Chapter Book of the Week this week - the fabulous "Ant Clancy: Games Detective" by Ruth Morgan.

Fusing videogame smarts with a smidgeon of awesome adventuring and clue solving, Ant Clancy loves nothing more than diving into the amazing new virtual reality game, Ray-Chay.

Invented by an eccentric billionaire Kody Crunch, Ray-Chay is all the kids are talking about.

But it soon becomes apparent that there's more to the game than just zapping a few aliens.

In fact Kody Crunch might not be the benevolent benefactor he's building himself up to be.

Despite Ant's attraction to the game, he's determined to find out whether Kody's protests of innocence are genuine, and whether something else lurks inside the code of Ray-Chay.

C loved this from the get-go, describing it as original and fresh and with just the right level of knowledge about gaming and cool stuff that would appeal to both game-loving boys and girls.

We're both hoping Ruth is busily cooking up Book 2, as this has the makings of an awesome series.

Sum this book up in a sentence: An awesome mix of gaming, detective clue-solving and virtual reality fused together in a compelling and pacy story.

"Ant Clancy: Games Detective" by Ruth Morgan is out now, published by Firefly Press (kindly supplied for review). 

Kid-friendly biographies are definitely a growing trend in the children's publishing market that we're really happy to see. One of the major criticisms we've had in the past is that these books don't often cover the folk that kids actually want to know about. But in this case, for our Chapter Book of the Week this week, Simon and Schuster have published something that's bang on the nail  and timely.

"Greta's Story: The Schoolgirl Who Went On Strike to Save the Planet" by Valentina Camerini, with illustrations by Moreno Giovannoni and translation by Veronica Carratello details the amazing young girl who has a lot of folk rattled - but folk who need to be rattled, shaken out of their greedy excess, and given a thorough wake up call - that our planet is dying, and we're doing very little to stop it.

Greta Thunberg, at 15, began a movement that has now gained traction worldwide. She started to stage protests in her home country of Sweden, striking one day a week and protesting outside the Swedish parliament buildings in order to raise awareness of climate change and ecological issues unfolding not just in her own country but across the globe.

Since then, Greta has become a measured and brilliant spokesperson for an entire generation of kids who are fed up to the back teeth with what complacent adults are doing to their world. Greta's heartfelt speeches and her appearances in public and on media networks have become a rallying cry as children not only stage their own school strikes and protests in many countries across the world, but also have been doing their bit to make the planet a better place to live in, staging activities from planting trees to picking up litter, and to telling their parents to be a bit more conscious about plastic waste and recycling.

She's a hero - and we love the fact that she upsets big fat white businessmen who seem to think it's their place to criticise her methods. Whenever she speaks, I'm always reminded of a tiny scene in Christopher Nolan's last Batman film where Catwoman says "How did you think you could get away with having it so good for so long, without consequence". This biography is inspirational stuff, giving kids even more reason to admire and respect this diminutive but mighty young girl.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A truly fantastic chronicle of Greta's struggle to make her voice heard in a world that needs to listen to her, and her generation a lot more when it comes to environmental and ecological issues.

"Greta's Story" by Valentina Camerini, Veronica Carratello and Moreno Giovannoni is out now, published by Simon and Schuster Children's Books (Kindly supplied for review). 

Our Chapter Book of the Week this week is a series that has proved wildly popular at C's school, so much so that she coasts quite a lot on the fact that we're lucky enough to get the latest books in the series 'early'

So once again she's been the most popular kid in class because of "The Accidental Rock Star" by Tom McLaughlin, acting as a very good sales agent by telling kids all the wonders they can expect when they obediently trot off to buy their own copies (we're not on comission yet, OUP, but just sayin'!)

Anyway, what's this latest adventure about? Take an ordinary everyday schoolboy who, with the aid of his faithful cat, has ended up as a world-famous rockstar - completely by accident of course!

After a hit single and a tour, life as a rock star perhaps isn't quite as brilliant as everyone imagines. Sometimes you just want to return to your previous (boring) life!

C has read and re-read this one, and though she really loved "The Accidental President" best of all in this series, she has now proclaimed "The Accidental Rock Star" as well worthy of its 'chapter book of the week' status.

So let's dig in and have a look at a sample page or two, to whet your whistle!


Sum this book up in a sentence: A hilarious mishap-laden view of what it could be like being a kid rockstar, with Tom's trademark tongue in cheek observational humour once again making this a huge hit!

"The Accidental Rock Star" by Tom McLaughlin is out now, published by OUP / Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).

Our Chapter Book of the Week elicits the sort of hugely soppy satisfied grin across C's chops, that it's impossible not to love these books.

Rachel Renee Russell, best known as the author of the superb "Dork Diaries" series (which C absolutely ADORES TO BITS!) also has a male dork hero for girls and boys, in the shape of Max Crumbly and in "The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Masters of Mischief", Max's third outing once again sees him teaming up with best buddy Erin for more mystery solving.

That's assuming of course that Max can survive the machinations of school life, from missing homework to being locked in your own locker, left to become a skeletal dust-covered dork remnant.

At the end of "Max Crumbly: Middle School Mayhem" young Max and sidekick (wait, SIDEKICK?) Erin had just foiled the plans of three bumbling burglars.

Our Chapter Book of the Week comes from one of the very men who was part of the monumentous Apollo 11 mission 50 years ago.

Michael Collins had a reputation for being the "Arty" astronaut (after all, he designed the mission patch for the Apollo 11 mission) and it comes across here in the fantastic revised edition of "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story".

Collins is one of my heroes. Armstrong and Aldrin might have come away from the mission as the men who walked on the moon, but Collins' role in that mission cannot be understated, and here he describes his life and the run up to his selection for the NASA Astronaut programme with humility and character. In fact his introduction in this very book might have you shedding a few tears, as he describes how he's too old to go to Mars - but dang, if it wasn't for his age he would've put himself forward, I bet.

As child-friendly biographies go, again this is a departure from the stuff we've seen recently - where well-meaning folk have given heavily abridged versions of a particular famous person's life story, almost as if kids can't deal with the complexities of reading about an adult and need that information watering down.

Here, in Collins' own words, is his story. Delivered to kids not in patronising tones, but treating them as his equal, and urging them onwards in their own efforts, perhaps even their own attempts to become astronauts or involved with the space programme themselves.

This is superb, atmospheric, and even if you think you know a ton about that amazing mission, it's absolutely brilliant to read it from one of the guys who went aboard that towering and gigantic rocket with one aim in mind, to make sure his mission colleagues made it safely there and back.

Sum this book up a sentence: A thoroughly absorbing and gripping read about one of the unsung heroes of the Apollo 11 Mission, the guy who stayed behind while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon - but every bit as scintillating as their own biogs.

"Flying to the Moon: An Astronauts Story" by Michael Collins is out now, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Self purchased, not supplied for review)

Our Chapter Book of the Week is a book that C has now started her third readthrough of.

Normally when we're drawing up our "Book of the Week" books, we do so in advance but C was adamant that this got into the BOTW slot as soon as possible.

With a bit of blog-juggling and some quite stern looks from "The Boss" her willing slave-typing-monkey did as he was bid.

So here we are then with "Peril En Pointe: A Swan House Mystery" by Helen Lipscombe, and one of the most impressively accomplished debuts we've read in a very long time.

The book is a darkly delicious slice of adventure that may initially put a few folk off (A ballet school book? EWWWW!) but don't let the setting fool you, this is a story filled with exquisite plot twists, amazing characters and some truly mighty girls who love their ballet and their adventures in equal measure.

The story begins with Milly who yearns to dance like her ballerina mum.

Our Chapter Book of the Week is the sequel to local super-talented author Nicki Thornton's exquisite "The Last Chance Hotel".

Seth is back! But this time is he the same happy-go-lucky lad?

After solving the mystery of the Last Chance Hotel, Seth is discovering his own magical abilities, and is destined to put them to the test solving a whole new MagiCon case, a mysterious set of oddities surrounding the remote location of the Snakesmouth Lighthouse.

Mina Mintencress, owner of the lighthouse, has been murdered - and soon Seth and his trusty cat Nightshade are once again embroiled in a dark and dangerous quest to uncover the identity of a dark sorcerer.

But will the lure of dark magic prove too much for Seth to resist and will it hamper his ambitions to become a proper MagiCon investigator one day?

Once again Nicki really pours on the tension and excitement, with a supporting cast of characters that we SWEAR she took furious notes on while running local Indie bookstore Mostly Books (yipes, I hope we dont end up in book 3!)

Our Chapter Book of the Week heralds the triumphant return of our all-time favourite pirate family and their best friend Matilda, this time for a tuneful but ratty tale!

"The Jolley-Rogers and the Pirate Piper" by Jonny Duddle might seem a little familiar at first...riffing on the well-loved children's tale of "The Pied Piper" but made all the more awesome by a righteous injection of yo ho hos and oo-ars!

Matilda and the Jolley-Rogers find the sleepy town of Dull-on-Sea plagued with a rather horrible bunch of unwelcome visitors. This time they're not pirates, but pie-RATS! Ready to scoff, guzzle and chomp their way through the town's comestibles.

There's only one thing for it, the mayor seeks a solution post haste, and soon the Pirate Piper arrives to play a dainty little hornpipe ditty to lure away those scabrous beasties.

But as you've probably guessed, there's a twist in the tale when the mayor refuses to pay up and the Pirate Piper turns the tables on the mean old skinflint, and unfortunately the town too!

Can Matilda and the Jolley-Rogers sort out the ratty mess?

Tons of new illustrations from one of our fave author-illustrators. It's a right good read this!

Jonny's early chapter / middle grade books are every bit as good as his picture books, perfect for kids making the jump between pic books and chapter books. There are tons of new stylish illustrations, and of course another cracking cover, making the Jolley-Rogers series hugely collectible.

Love all the little details in Jonny's illustrations, even his black-and-white ones!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A squeaky squirmy ratty tale filled with giggles and delight, perfect for pirate fans of any age.

"The Jolley-Rogers and the Pirate Piper" by Jonny Duddle is out now, published by Templar (kindly supplied for review)

Sadly, all good things must come to an end - and all great book series must seemingly come to a world-shattering conclusion, or at least that's how it felt as we reached the end of "Maresi: Red Mantle", the final book in Maria Turtschaninoff's masterly Red Abbey Chronicles series.

The story picks up once again with Maresi finally reaching the end of her time at the Red Abbey.

Her world, her life, her home - and more importantly a safe haven in a despicable world ruled by brutal men, Maresi must return to her childhood home to hopefully preach the findings gleaned from her life at the Abbey to other like minded souls who can perhaps help turn the tide of opression in her village.

Maresi's teachings can't reach her people, ground down and despicably trodden on by the overbearing rule of the local Earl.

Finally Maresi realises that she must use all the terrible force of the Crone's magic, dark magic taught to her in the twinkling of candle-light at the Red Abbey to protect her people, but can she find the strength to do so when she's distracted by something unexpected, the emergence of her first real love for another?

We've loved the previous two books in the series, and really didn't want this final book to end. Maria's world building, atmospheric storytelling, and amazing ability to confront issues that many women and girls will nod in recognition of as they're alluded to in this amazing book really will strike a chord, and if there's absolutely any justice in the book world, the Red Abbey Chronicles deserve to be up there amongst the literary fantasy greats such as Tolkein, C.S Lewis and Margaret Atwood.

Make no mistake, this has been an epic trilogy that deserves wider recognition - and this wrap-up demonstrates just how to write a scintillating story arc that takes both the characters - and you - on a heck of an amazing journey as your lives unfold.

Utterly, utterly brilliant.

"Maresi: Red Mantle" (Red Abbey Chronicles Book 3) by Maria Turtschaninoff is out now, published by Pushkin Children's Books (very kindly supplied for review). 

Our Chapter Book of the Week comes from a fabulously creative author who can swap hats, creating stunning book worlds - and dishing up amazing non-fiction titles with aplomb.

But in "The Dragon in the Library" by Louie Stowell, with illustrations and cover by Davide Ortu, Louie writes a deliciously original story that dips into two things we love a great deal - mythical creatures and books.

Meet Kit. Kit is not your average library-dweller, in fact truth be told, Kit would rather be anywhere else but stuck indoors in a dusty old place full of books.

She doesn't love reading, but when two of her best friends drag her along to the library, something rather strange happens - and Kit makes a discovery that could completely change her attitude to books and the library itself.

Kit meets a dragon, and not just any old dragon but a book-loving mythical creature. But what will happen when the truth gets out, and when the entire library is put in danger of being closed for good?

We're playing a bit coy here, because this is the sort of book we don't want to ruin even the tiniest story morsel of for you. Suffice to say that in under a week's time you'll be able to pick it up and two things will happen.

1) You will fall completely in love with Kit and her scaly new friend

2) It could, just could turn your head if you're a bit of a reluctant reader too.

We loved the pace of it, we love the lusciously atmospheric descriptions that make you feel almost like sneezing as you find yourself amongst the dusty tomes of the library, but most of all we just adore the idea that writers like Louie are out there, and getting stuff like this published - chock full of originality and positivity in a world that desperately needs a good dose of both. We also love Davide's illustrations for this, which set the scenes perfectly. Fab stuff, more please!!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly fleshed-out and realistic female central character (that we dearly hope to see popping up as a cosplay character on World Book Day), a good dose of magic, and a cause that we can all pin our banners to and bend the knee to, celebrating the importance of libraries, reading and books (and dragons of course, yes!!)

"The Dragon in the Library" by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu is out on 6th June 2019, published by Nosy Crow (kindly supplied for review).