Liz Pichon

Strictly speaking, this story was more fun than finding your FAVORITE shoes on sale in every color of the rainbow in EXACTLY your size!

There are characters you won't soon forget, plots that are so devious you'll question giving the benefit of the doubt to everyone, creativity that will boggle your mind, and so many laughs and guffaws to be had, you'll end up with a showbox size tummy ache by book's end. Ruby and Bear are a great duo and seriously have each other's backs. Their father was some adult readers could also relate to, as was Betty, because he cared about his family and friends so much, he was willing to put his dreams and aspirations to the side to provide for them. Even with the loss of their mother (most mysteriously!), he picked up the pieces of his heart's loss and provided a good life...despite wedge shaped black hole in it. Speaking of wedges (and I'm sorry, but I definitely don't find them comfortable!), Wendy Wedge was a seriously unexpectedly dastardly baddie, and TOE-tally deserves everything she has coming...the spoils of which I shall not reveal, but trust me when I say, you'll be in awe of how far the perceived mighty fall.

One thing, I found surprising, but refreshing all the same as that the author doesn't pull any punches! There are no mysterious happy endings, no escaping by the skin of their teeth moments, and no unbelievable outcomes to some truly cringe worthy situations. If they get into trouble, in trouble they stay until they work their way out of it. If they are being followed by Mr. Creeper, then they are being followed and most definitely aren't able to shrug him off their trail (though Shoo - the cat - seriously manages some astounding feats!). If they are trying to hide something they shouldn't know, do, or have, then like most secrets...it gets out. If they are suppose to be listening to their father and staying out of trouble, then they are probably getting into it like most kids will do. The point is...as FUNtastic and punny as the story is, it still feels REAL. Sure, every page is littered with shoe puns of every sort, from images to story, names to places, heck, even the chapters aren't chapters...they're SIZES...but everyone was written with such heart, that ultimately you have a great time, while still feeling like you're stepping into some mighty powerful shoes.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own… (més)

This book is about when Tom and his friends find out that there is a new doodling wall at school, but when they doodle on the wrong wall there is some explaining to do. Tom's doing everything possible to stay out of trouble, but somehow he's got THREE sad faces on the school achievement chart! And getting another sad face means Mr Fullerman won't let him go on the SCHOOL TRIP! Moany Marcus Meldrew is making things worse and now Tom's annoyed by his grumpy sister Delia. Can his best friend Derek help? Will Rooster the dog stop eating his homework?

This book was very interesting and funny, Liz Pichon used multiple plots in the story to hook the reader in. The book also uses comedy and the fact that Tom’s life is so full of adventure and wildness. I rate this book a 7/10 and recommend this book to 8-10 yr olds.… (més)