Matty Long Books

If you enjoy an epic quest and love an illustrated early chapter book, this book is for you!

With five loveable, happy heroes, a faun, unicorn, fairy, gnome and mushroom, there is a character for everyone. The book is a visual delight with detailed, colourful illustrations, which are scattered throughout the book, which also includes double page spreads of scenes. There are strong themes of friendship and working together on how to overcome the evil Fungellus before he takes over the Super Happy Magic Forest with his toxic spores. Humour is present throughout the illustrations, writing and speech bubbles, leading to lots of giggling together.

This book is fun to read aloud and is also good for readers starting to read chapter books. In addition to the text, there are speech bubbles from characters all throughout, which are popular with children to read aloud.

Suitable for a class read aloud from Early Years but especially suitable as a class read for KS1, where you can immerse yourself into adventure, silliness and lots of fun! It is part of a series of books, so be prepared to read other adventures by Matty Long. It has also recently been made into a new television series due to its popularity.

A fun and easy-to-read book, and a good addition to the Year 2 book corner for enhancement when looking at fantasy creatures or adventure narratives.

Matty Long – known for Super Happy Magic Forest – has an iconic illustrative style that appeals to younger children. The main character Croaky Hopper is funny and the storyline moves quickly. Croaky is different to other frogs and not content to stay home when his dreams of wild adventures are just a leap away – especially when he signs up for Woggle Scouts and ends up on an expedition to find the legendary Sasquatch.

We love the vibrant character of Croaky and his energetic personality will resonate with readers in the age group of the intended audience – his thirst for adventure, his frustration at not being able to bound away and recklessly follow his dreams and his impulsive spirit that causes him to sometimes leap before he thinks. This story sells the benefit of being part of a club or team, and shows how different personalities can achieve their goals in different ways through working together.

The book feels like a chapter book, but the printed format is familiar to those who like picturebooks or early graphic novels. Children enjoy the full-colour illustrations and ease of reading. The text is large and the sentence structure is easy enough for children to understand and read in a short session.