It's launch day for a whole ton of awesome books, and we're delighted to finally see "Pests" by Emer Stamp arriving on shelves, ready to rock your reading world.

A gorgeous, funny, charming and original book, filled with Emer's brilliant humour - and a whumping great big dose of "awwwww" as well!

We jumped the gun a bit because we couldn't wait to tell you all about it back in January - ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 31st January 2020: "Pests" by Emer Stamp (Hodder Children's Books)

...but it's now properly out, with a superb glow-in-the-dark cover perfect for tucking up with before you curl up in your mousey bed!

"Pests" is the story of a busy little mouse named Stix. 

You're going to have a bit of a wait on your hands before you get hold of our fantastic Chapter Book of the Week but we were so excited about it, we couldn't hold it in any longer.

We first read "Pests" by Emer Stamp as an ARC over Christmas and for quite some time now we'd been wondering what Emer would come up next. Her fabulous "Secret Diary of Pig" books have long been faves of ours, and C in particular really began to find her reading confidence with those books, and Emer's hilarious but brilliantly touching writing style.

So now Emer turns her attention to those little creatures that perhaps hide behind the wainscotting, or scurry around in the dark while the rest of us sleep. Pests? Perhaps not...

Stix is the hero of this tale, a tiny yet brave mouse who manages to keep out of trouble - most of the time. Stix is actually very kind and caring, but to join the ranks of "The Pests" Stix might have to change his ways.

Stix's wise grandma teaches him that staying away from humans, and out of trouble, will enable him to have a long and happy life - just like hers. But the Peewit Educatorium for Seriously Terrible Scoundrels (Yep, PESTS) demands more than just stealth from its members - and so Stix is about to do something very silly indeed - ignore his Grandma's sage advice and get into all sorts of mischief.

But is it worth changing your behaviour just to fit in with a whole new crew of friends?

Straight away Stix finds his voice as a character, and you're instantly drawn to him in the same way we were both drawn to Pig. Sometimes he's not the brightest mouse in the skirting board but there's something quite sweet, innocent and endearing about any tiny character outscaled by the trials and challenges of the world - and sometimes even the human world at that, scaled up and gigantic and equally full of wonders and dangers. There are laugh out loud moments, and those divine moments of bittersweetness that crop up in the very best middle grade books. It feels unusual to have them in a book that is meant to be light and funny in tone, but they work beautifully, and reinforce our love of Stix and this bookworld.

This is utterly fantastic stuff and Emer is an immensely talented lass!

Sum this book up in a sentence: Emer shifts gears effortlessly to deliver a potential new book series that's every bit as engaging, characterful and downright fun to read as "Pig"

"Pests" by Emer Stamp is out on 2nd April 2020, published by Hodder Children's Books (kindly supplied for review). 

Hooray! Hooray! It's book four in a series we have loved from the very start, our Chapter Book of the Week this week is the awesome "The Big Fat Totally Bonkers Diary of Pig" by Emer Stamp.

Oooh! If there's one thing that gets our trotters in a twist, it's the prospect of re-reading fabulous books we've already loved in hardback in their new paperback clothes.

We're very honoured to be joining in a fab book blog tour for Emer Stamp's wonderful creation, the happy go lucky and awesomely super "Pig"

Pig is getting a bit of an old hand (or should that be old ham? Oh you bet we're going to be wheeling out every piggy pun we can think of!) at keeping a diary of his rather amazing adventures. Who'd think that a fairly ordinary porker could lead such a frantic and adventure-filled life?

Back in the mists of time, I read "The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig" to Charlotte, and it was such a huge hit that she's read it many, many times since. In the first book, Pig falls foul of some rather horrible chickens who seem intent on ridding the farm of pig for good. If you're new to Emer's Pig stories you really should dig, the first book is pigging brilliant!

As well as nefarious and evil chickens, pig comes up with an awesome plan for a rather strange mode of transport - a tractor rocket, fuelled by the most natural (and probably the pongiest) fuel ever. We'll leave you to find out what that is (ew!!!)

In the mists of time, we seem to have lost touch with our favourite porcine but his adventures continued and Book 2, "The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig" introduces a new friend for Pig to go on crazy adventures with. Kitty is a vegetarian cat, and the two become firm friends while living on Pig's new farm (with two vegetarian farmers who aren't in danger of fancying a round of bacon, very luckily for Pig!)

However, not everything on the farm is rosy. Duck warns Pig that Kitty may not be the perfect purring feline she seems, and may have her own sneaky plans in hand - for getting pig into some SERIOUS trouble!


Now Pig is back! In "The Seriously Ordinary Diary of Pig", Pig, Duck, Cow and the Sheeps are far away from home but never far away from danger as they go on a rambunctious expedition. Expect mischief, mayhem, plops, squelches and complete craziness as Pig once again chronicles his adventures in a whole new diary.

I've often said that any book series that can make Charlotte genuinely cackle with glee is always going to be a huge win and Emer Stamp's fabulous characterisations are fab to read aloud (though nowadays, Charlotte is more likely to snatch the books out of my hand with a whoop of glee, and closet herself away until she's voraciously read through the lot!).

"The Top Secret Diary of Pig", "The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig" and the latest fabulous book "The Seriously Extraordinary Diary of Pig" are available from Scholastic Publishing with the third book just released (4th February). Go geddem, piggy fans!

We're joining in with the "Piggy Blog Tour" courtesy of Scholastic and Emer Stamp. We've been reading (and chortling muchly) at Pig's antics in his new book "The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig". But just what does an ordinary everyday pig get up to that's worth scribbling about with a talented trotter in a diary? Lots. Lots and lots!

Pig's best friend is Duck (and I'm sure if you met duck, you'd want a best friend like that too!) Pig lives on a farm with the farmer and his wife, and is such a good natured little soul that everyone likes him. Except...the evil chickens. Boo! Hiss! Cluck!

They are always pecking pig, stealing his food (and duck's food too, the rotters) and they don't stop there. You truly can't trust a chicken at all, so when the chickens hatch (oh pun intended, yay!) a plan to get rid of pig once and for all, requisitioning the farmer's tractor and pig's digestive tract, no good will come of it.

When pig finds out why he's the only pig left on the farm, and where sausages come from, he's rather alarmed. With good (or bad - depending on your point of view) timing, the chickens are readying their Tractorocket to blast Pig off to another planet! Eek!

A fabulous, funny and brilliantly told story that's a blast for early chapter readers like Charlotte who crave plenty of visual stimulation (brilliant little piggy doodles and funny maps) to go along with their books. Pig is so loveable and naive that you just can't help rooting for him (when he's not rooting around in rubbish bins or mud, eeks!) and hissing at the rotten chickens who really should be on the menu instead of pig.

More pig soon please Emer, we loved him to (bacon) bits!

Charlotte's best bit: A morbid fascination with Pig's rather unique way of powering the awesome Tractor Rocket. Ewwww! Hold your nose!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fun, crazy, humorously told. If Adrian Mole had been Adrian Pig instead, this is how we'd imagine him!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Scholastic)