Peng and Spanners

Peng and Spanners is a dazzling delight of a graphic novel! A detecting duo made up of Peng, a dry-witted, sarcastic penguin, and Spanners, a toolbelt-wearing, superhero-inspired cat.

Peng is forced to Boredin School and somehow, dreaming of life as an Adventure Ninja, ends up as one half of a new dynamic duo... There is a missing pizza parlour and a sudden appearance from a giant statue that looks perhaps like a giant robot…?  This calls for super power super sleuthing (and Gerald, the giant Ninja Bot).

Peng and Spanners is a gloriously bright and bold, madcap and marvellous comic strip caper that kids will be so excited by. It is fabulously funny, full of mishaps and missed opportunities to solve the crime. The dynamic duo are more like the "disagreeing duo" in some hilarious scenes. The illustrations and text are both wonderfully eye-catching, vivid and energetic. The story is broken into chapters and moves along at a nice, fresh pace.

Perfectly formatted for young, independent readers and large enough to read with others - graphic novels have a unique selling point in school as a brilliant shared reading experience. I love the Draw With.. sections at the end of the story that further engage the reader into being an active participant in the adventures. This is a book that will never be on the library shelves but always in someone's eager hands.

224 pages / Reviewed by Jennifer Caddick, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 7+

Pizza mysteries, pesky robots and jail breaks aplenty; discover the first instalment of this humorous comic book series starring a sarcastic penguin and a clever cat with a toolbelt.

When the school pizza parlour disappears and a giant robot suddenly appears, Peng and Spanners know that only they can help the headmaster find his parlour before the school inspectors arrive and shut him down. There's just one massive pesky robot to defeat, Cinderella the caretaker, who roars about rules and an incredible jail break to get out of first.

Join Peng and Spanners as they investigate the craziest pizza mystery ever in this new graphic novel, perfect for fans of Dogman, Barry Loser and Bunny vs Monkey. Steve Webb has beautifully added drawing tutorials at the end of the book to enable the reader the be fully involved and create artwork to be proud of.

This will be a valued addition to any KS1 or 2 book corner or library with the job of inspiring young readers to read for pleasure. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

224 pages / Reviewed by Amanda Shipton, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 5+