Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton
| Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Tony Taylor
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| Summary: As in previous Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam stories these loveable characters have swapped their life of crime for making and selling cupcakes from their bakemobile. In their new lives, they take it upon themselves to solve crime and use all of their baking ingenuity to catch dastardly robbers and a power-grabbing, weather-controlling red panda in this wonderful story which has marvellous illustrations. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 124 | Date: September 2016 |
| Publisher: Nosy Crow Ltd | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0857637017 | |
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As a teacher and a parent, one of the main aims I have when it comes to reading is to promote a love of reading in all children. This can of course in general be more challenging with boys. Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton have created a wonderful book with two familiar characters at the centre. Their previous tales of Shifty McGifty were shorter books around 35 pages told though rhyme. However, their latest book, The Spooky School, at 124 pages, is perfect for the maturing primary school student (approximately 6-9 years of age). If these children had experienced the earlier books, then there is a feeling that Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam have grown up with them. Although this book will appeal to both boys and girls, boys will particularly enjoy these fun tales.
This book absolutely screams from the shelf to be picked up and enjoyed. The front cover sparkles in the light and give clues to the Halloween setting in the story. Each and every page is jam-packed full of illustrations by the brilliant Steven Lenton. They are fun and humorous pictures all set out in two tone, grey and orange colours. A huge benefit to the book is the actual feel. It is produced from extremely high quality, thick, almost glossy paper which means it won't get ripped easily. The child is given a feeling of a precious book which they will want to look after. The team at Nosy Crow publishers have really thought about their audience here.
There are three stories in this book which are all madcap adventures with our dynamic duo trying to save the day. They have remembered a few tricks from their days of crime and cleverly use their cake equipment in resourceful ways with their new inventions, for example: the whisk-a-web and the cupcake catapult. As the book is called 'The Spooky School' I would have liked all three stories to be centred around Halloween and The Spooky School of St Spectre's boarding school, which is the setting for the first story. However, the final two stories don't particularly have this spooky feel to them and have completely different settings.
The writing is perfect for a confident young reader. The text is positioned differently on each page which engages the child with their reading. It is a great example of the 'page turner' cliché as children will want to turn the next page to absorb the text and illustrations. I wish there were more books like this for our modern day young readers. I read this story to my 7-year old son who enjoyed every minute of these wacky adventures. I asked him if he enjoyed it at the end and his response was It was great; do you have any more books of Shifty McGifty? If children are instantly wanting to read more and hear more stories, then books from Tracey Corderoy are having a huge positive impact on our children.
For further reading, I would suggest going to the first Shifty McGifty book: Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: The Spooky School by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton at Amazon.com.
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