Ryan Hammond Books

Bram, a young werewolf boy, is just starting at Villains Academy, but the problem is that, unlike his classmates, Mona the witch, Sheila the ghost, Skele-tony, the Tooth Hairy, and Mr Toad, he’s just not all that sure that he’s, well….bad enough. Master Mardybum hates him, he will never be named Villain of the Week, and he’s the only one in Class Z who can’t manage to get detention. All of the other villains think he is too pathetic to even bother being enemies with.

But when Bram and the rest of team ‘Cereal Killers’ must fight their way through the Mystery Maze, they realise that friendship is more important than they had thought, and your own worst enemy can sometimes be yourself.

Despite the scatological humour (there is a lot of passing wind) and funny made-up insults such as bumbershins and shubblemegump, at heart Villains Academy is a riff on the classic boarding school tale, with grumpy teachers, conflicting personalities, and moral lessons to be learned.

The silly capers, short chapters and highly-illustrated text should make this a hit with its target audience of 7-9 year olds.