An Alien in the Jam Factory

By Author / Illustrator

Chrissie Sains, Jenny Taylor

Genre

Representation & Inclusion

Age range(s)

Publisher

Walker Books Ltd

ISBN

9781406396126

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-04-2021

Synopsis

The first book in a hilarious, jam-packed new adventure series starring Scooter the inventor and his top secret alien sidekick.

Scooter McLay's cerebral palsy affects how quickly he can move his body, but his hyper-creative brain is a constant fizz of brilliant ideas. He spends every day inventing top secret recipes and machines for his family's jam factory. There's just one thing missing ... a pet, to share it all with. Or better still, a friend. When a tiny alien named Fizzbee crashes through the factory window, she might just be the answer. Now it's all hands on deck, as they team up to save the factory from dastardly neighbour Daffy Dodgy.

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Reviews

With a jam factory, a jealous neighbour and Fizzbee the alien, what's not to like about this book? There's enough humour in An Alien in the Jam Factory to keep me as an adult entertained and the laughs kept the children happy. The illustrations by Jenny Taylor really helped to keep the children focused, especially assisting those children with a lower reading age.

It was really great to have the main character, Scooter McLay, to have a health issue; one which really made the children in my year 5 class ask questions and leading to further research into cerebral palsy. I really liked the way this was portrayed as being something which allowed Scooter to develop his brain-power, rather than his body-power. This was something many of my class could empathise with.

I would recommend this for year 3 children, they would enjoy the flying jam tarts and silliness of the adventures.

192 pages / Reviewed by Sharon Porter, teacher