The Great Crisp Robbery

I'm sure this is going to be another hit for creative duo Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham, because children were asking to be first to read it even before the book was catalogued.

The Great Crisp Robbery has the characteristic ingredients of their previous titles: madcap misunderstandings, high energy narrative, and an unbelievably silly cast (this time, of stowaways, hooded figures, train robbers), alongside slightly hysterical children who are trying to make sense of the many puzzling goings-on around them.

In these pages, we see a trip to London on the sleeper train unfolding - ‘unscrambling’ might be a better word - before our very eyes. Flicking through the pages, words like ACTUAL TEARS, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, Sixteen BIG Packets of Crisps, CLUNK! GONE! STOLEN! jump out, while the graphics and drawings add their own comedic effect. But by page 329, the adventure finally comes to a halt, the mysteries are explained, and we arrive a little breathlessly at our destination, only to be left wondering where next?

This can't be the end of the line. Give us more! A brilliant read-for-fun tale which children of all ages, but particularly Years 3 & 4 (ages 7-9) will love.

272 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 7+