View source for Gnomes Are Forever (Oli and Skipjack's Tales of Trouble) by Ceci Jenkinson

{{infobox1 
|title= Gnomes Are Forever (Oli and Skipjack's Tales of Trouble)
|author= Ceci Jenkinson
|reviewer= Sue Magee
|genre=Confident Readers 
|summary= The second book in the ''Tales of Trouble'' series lives up to the promise of the first and its anarchic humour is sure the appeal to boys in the seven to nine year old range.  Recommended.
|rating=4 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=176 
|publisher= Faber Children's Books
|date= December 2008
|isbn=978-0571240739 
|cover=0571240739
|aznuk=0571240739
|aznus=0571240739
}}

Oli Biggles and Skipjack Haynes are two perfectly normal young boys.  Well, as perfectly normal as any young, healthy boy who has got the wrong side of Mr Grimble the bus driver ever can be.  The plan to kidnap all his garden gnomes in retaliation seemed like a brainwave at the time.  But then, the World's Best Jewel Thief had a plan too – to make a lot of money by stealing the Black Star diamond from the museum.  Of course it was inevitable that the two plans would collide and that there would be more ''Tales of Trouble'' for our intrepid heroes.

So many books for the newly confident reader are, well, just a bit too worthy.  We want to encourage children to read rather than leave them thinking that it's boring – and I can promise you that they are not going to be bored by this book.  There's a rollicking good story in there with plenty of action and a plot as twisty as the average corkscrew.  It's laugh-out-loud funny in places and there are lots of characters to love and hate.  There's also a remote control farting key ring.

Those of you who have read ''The Mumshop'', Ceci Jenkinson's first book and also part of the Oli and Skipjack's ''Tales of Trouble'' series will know exactly what to expect.  The books are going to appeal more to boys than to girls, but that's not a bad thing and it's all going to be to their taste.  Well, they might know that real boys don't like any girls and certainly don't write their names down in a secret code, but that's just the sort of thing that happens in books, isn't it?  It's all a bit anarchic and long enough to be a proper book but short enough to make comfortable reading.

The vocabulary is sufficiently challenging to give the young reader a sense of achievement without being so daunting that the book ceases to be fun.  It's a book which is going to be enjoyed by the child who's already into reading and the child who hasn't yet mastered all the pleasures.  Here at Bookbag Towers we think that there should be more books like this.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy along to the Bookbag.

If this type of book appeals then you really ought to have a look at [[Lost! The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong]].  It's just the sort of humour that will appeal.  

{{toptentext|list=Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2009}}

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