Last year, the first Einstein the Penguin book was a huge success and the next book in the series publishes this month. The newest book, Einstein the Penguin: The Case of the Fishy Detective, sees the loveable penguin Einstein return with a new adventure involving a surprise kidnapping and a mystery to solve.

Iona started writing Einstein the Penguin while she was studying English at Oxford, stating that writing children’s books was more fun than studying for final exams. Now, what started as a project alongside her studies has been published with HarperCollins Children’s Books and was named The Sunday Times Children’s Book of the week.

The stories are an enjoyable mix of whodunnit and a hilarious story of a penguin who comes to live with two children, causing them to put aside their sibling squabbles and come to his rescue. This is a lovely choice of a class read for Lower KS2, and children will enjoy the parody of incompetent teachers/zoo keepers/detectives/parents while also prompting several discussion points about right and wrong. The series makes a fun next step for readers who have enjoyed Paddington or Erica’s Elephant.