St Grizzles School for Girls, Goats and Random Boys is a fantastically funny story following Dani as she is dumped in St Grizelda’s School for Girls while her mum goes to the Antarctic to research penguin bums. However, it's not the strict institution she expected it to be... in fact, this is the total opposite of what she imagined! Now known as St Grizzles, Dani's new school is somewhere that teaches circus skills, where you can bake meringues in class and where the head teacher, Lulu, wears a crown of plastic spoons. The events that follow are crazy, wild and unpredictable. But what kind of adventures will be found along the way?!
Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...
Hi I'm Dani and my mum loves penguins’ bums more than me. Otherwise she’d never dump me in some stuffy old school while she heads off to the Antarctic.
And it gets worse. When we arrive at St Grizelda’s School for Girls, the school’s had a drastic makeover. Gone are the uniforms, the rules and ... er, most of the pupils and staff.
In their place is TOTAL CHAOS.
We’re greeted by a bunch of stampeding eight-year-olds, a head-butting goat and a crazy head teacher wearing a plastic-spoon crown...
Somebody get me OUT of here!
I was kindly sent this book by Little Tiger Press on behalf of Stripes Publishing, in exchange for an honest review :)
I absolutely loved this book. It was so well-written in a distinctive and hilarious way, and the voice of Dani really comes through - it is as if you are in her head. I loved her relationship with Archie and her Granny Viv. The interactions between the characters in this book were so well-described and the book was, simply, a joy to read.
The other characters were fabulous too - I loved Swan, Zed and Blossom. It was great that McCombie included a child who was in a wheelchair and also characters who were not white - the diversity really stood out and this fantastically illuminated the overall message of the book - difference is a great thing, and it makes the world a lot more interesting!
The illustrations were also great and I love that there were pictures on almost every page; this made for a truly interactive reading experience. Although this book is recommended for children age 9 and upwards, this could easily be read to children younger, as the pictures do really help to explain what's going on. My favourite illustrations were that of the children - I thought they brought their characters to life and I loved the tiny details.
Altogether, I loved St Grizzles School for Girls, Goats and Random Boys and would recommend it to all the little boys and girls in your life!
Check out Karen McCombie here: http://www.karenmccombie.com
Until next time :)
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