View source for Super Creepy Camp (Beaky Malone) by Barry Hutchison

{{infobox1
|title=Super Creepy Camp (Beaky Malone)
|author=Barry Hutchison
|reviewer= Louise Jones
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary= Beaky Malone has lost the ability to lie; which could be a massive problem when he's entered into a tournament against a rival school. Cue plenty of excruciatingly embarrassing scenarios...
|rating=5
|buy=yes
|borrow=yes
|pages=192
|publisher=Stripes Publishing
|date=June 2017
|isbn=9781847158123
|website=barryhutchison.com
|aznuk=1847158129
|aznus=1847158129
|cover=1847158129
}}

First of all, I'd like to start off by making a complaint to Barry Hutchison. His latest book, ''Super Creepy Camp'' has been giving me sleepless nights. I've been kept awake by the raucous laughter emanating from my son's bedroom as he reads it before bed. I'd just be settling down and then it would start again, bouncing off the walls in the dead of night and probably keeping the neighbours awake too. I'd stomp angrily across the landing, open his door, to find him helplessly rolling around on the bed in fits of giggles. So thanks, Barry. Thanks a lot.

This is the third book in the excellent ''Beaky Malone'' series, which is currently my son's absolute favourite. Our hapless protagonist WAS a compulsive liar until, one fateful day, he stepped into a magic machine and lost his ability to lie. Not only can he not lie, but he also has a habit of blurting out the truth at the worst possible moment; much to his embarrassment.

In this book, our hero and his schoolmates are pitted against another school in a battle consisting of three parts: a quiz, a debate and a night camping in the woods. It's bad enough that the opposing team hate him, but Beaky has enough trouble coping with his own team, which includes psycho-bully Wayne, who is out to get him. Will Beaky's big mouth get him in trouble again? Or can the team scoop a prestigious victory for the first time in the school's history?

I absolutely loved the last book and wondered whether this one would be as funny, but I needn't have worried. The scenarios are really well put together and the reader can see each disaster coming before it happens, leaving us to wonder how (or if) Beaky will cope with his next predicament. After all, WE know he can't lie, but most of the other characters don't. In all fairness, he does try to tell them, but as he has a reputation as a compulsive liar, nobody ever believes him. There are some very funny scenes in the book, but I think my favourite was the spelling quiz, where Beaky had to spell some very difficult words; it's brilliantly done and was the reason my son was keeping me awake with his laughter!

The potential for future stories is limitless, so I'd love to see where Beaky ends up next. Hopefully in another excruciatingly embarrassing situation; because that's where the best humour lies. I hope Mr Hutchison is very busy working on the next one, because we really can't wait.

Although I might just invest in some earplugs...

Bookbag also enjoyed the hilariously funny [[Worst Ever School Trip: Beaky Malone by Barry Hutchison|Worst Ever School Trip]].

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