Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Evilness of Pizza by John Dougherty and David Tazzyman (illustrator)
| Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Evilness of Pizza by John Dougherty and David Tazzyman (illustrator) | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: The third entry in this series really shows no signs of letting up with the inventive silliness. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 192 | Date: January 2015 |
| Publisher: OUP Oxford | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780192738257 | |
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There are a few important things to know about the Island Kingdom of Great Kerfuffle. One is that it is pestered by a criminal gang of badgers, who find it impossible to just sit around in prison, but always have to escape and cause danger and nastiness to other people, even if they are on the whole incredibly stupid. You also need to know, however, that brother and sister Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face are great at solving the problems the badgers cause, and getting through the adventures in a very self-knowing way, even discussing the lengths of the chapters and the style of story as they go about their business. Here the problem is revealed quite late on, so in an effort not to spoil the plot I'll just point out that in a book this stupidly, deliriously daft you hardly need bother about the plot in the first place, and can just relax and have the sheer joy of entertainment for an hour or so.
When this landed on my doorstep it was with a natural reaction – Oh, those bloody badgers again – joined by a silly grin. Silliness is prime in this series, and grinning and being silly is only a natural response to these books, whatever your age. Of course, having read it I can come up with a more appropriate comment, such as, oh I don't know, Gosh my pants! That was great!. This book is not just infectiously silly, it is quite relevantly quotable as well. Trust me, there are countless examples of silliness and inventiveness that I could mention, but this is one example of silliness that is justified, where the daftness is not there just because the author can get away with it whether it makes sense or not, and where the whole exuberance is certainly worth discovering for yourself.
Rest assured that even though I have not given a real plot summary, and neither does the back cover blurb, there is a real adventure to be had here. It's not just a rehash of the prior two books either, but it is up to their standard, if not beyond it. There is once more something daft, amusing or something that books aren't supposed to do, that will all appeal to the reluctant reader, on every page. There is once again the feeling that anyone will engage with this, on some level, whatever their intelligence or reading experience. And there is the returning sense that this series just hits the right buttons in appealing to the madcap, Mr Gum-styled genre fan. The books are coming out quickly – if you're reading this past July 2015 then there's already a fourth one to consider – but with no letting up in quality so far, it's an easy, worry-free decision to make – the very thing one-click purchasing is made for.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
We started reading the series here. If you care to see an example of silliness gone wrong to the point of making little sense, there is The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton for a similar audience.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the Evilness of Pizza by John Dougherty and David Tazzyman (illustrator) at Amazon.com.
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