Branching Out: Books for Fans of Max & Chaffy

This is a cheerful, full-colour graphic novel for young readers set in the undersea town of Nowhere. We’re introduced to the main characters, Ollie the vampire squid and his best friend Zing, the sea bunny, who with their friends and neighbours form the Squid Squad, each with their own special aquatic super power. We follow them through a series of wacky adventures in which those super powers eventually save the day.

The balance between having enough peril to make the plot exciting without scaring very young readers is very deftly managed, making this great for KS1.

I expect this book to be particularly popular with children in Years 1-4 and it would work well as a first introduction to graphic novels. It’s prefect for fans of: Max and Chaffy; Narwhal and friends; Peanut, Butter and Crackers; Bumble & Snug.

We are big fans of the InvestiGators graphic novel series. This pun-filled action series is a hit with younger fans of the graphic novel format and has hooked in lovers of Dog Man and The Bad Guys through its full-colour animal antics, funny cases to solve, and clever wordplay.

We love the good, clean fun of this series, and parents and teachers know that young graphic novel fans are in good hands with these books. Author John Patrick Green said of the series, “Of all the comics I’ve created in my professional career, making InvestiGators has come closest to recapturing that feeling of being 11 years old, drawing comics in my bedroom, with the sole intention of making my friends and classmates laugh.”

John’s commitment to child-centred visual humour and puns has clearly paid off and is reflected in the popularity of this series, which teachers and librarians tell us is flying off primary bookshelves at lightning speed. For children, the books are funny from the get-go, and pun-loving grown-ups like us can’t help but smile at the non-stop wordplay woven through the action scenes, too.

Happy Hills is a place full of fun and chaos, just like this book, and is a place children will love to visit to escape their own reality. This bold and colourful book is pleasing to the eye and will attract the most reluctant reader with its comic style. As we follow the different stories of the Happy Hills’ characters, we visit a duck’s happy place, sing sea shanties with Captain Crosspants and disco dance with a cat; there is fun and silliness on every page and giggles galore! But when the Giant Danger Kittens arrive at the Hills, can the gang come together to defeat them?

The pages of this brilliant book are packed with visual treats and each mini story comes together to deliver an amazing adventure.

Fans of the Super Happy Magic Forest stories will love this book – it is not one to be missed!

Meet the Mubbles is a bright, funny graphic novel by Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon, and is perfect for younger readers.

It tells the story of the Mubbles, who are quirky creatures living in their own land. From colourful creatures to strange sounds and silly behaviour, this book is packed with surprises and giggles.

What makes this story extra fun is its format. As a graphic novel, it uses colourful illustrations, speech bubbles, and playful fonts to help tell the story. The pictures are bold and full of energy, making it a great comic-style choice for children who enjoy visual storytelling or are just getting into reading longer books.

Liz Pichon’s trademark humour shines through on every page, with silly jokes, quirky characters, and a fast-paced plot that keeps readers engaged. There is also a Youtube channel for readers to find additional Mubbles-themed content, including songs and crafts.

Meet the Mubbles is a fantastic, easy-to-read book that encourages creativity and imagination. Its humour and colourful style make it especially appealing to children who love to laugh and explore fun, silly stories.

A jam-packed colour graphic novel full of laughs and fun. Max the cat lives in Kittyopolis where villain Agent M is desperate to get his hands on a meteorite. He sends his minion, Reggie the robot to track down the meteorite which is under the care of Mindy the scientist, Max’s friend. Max gets superpowers when he takes a bite of the meteorite. What follows is an adventure involving a lot of crime, shenanigans and villainy. This book is also about friendships and how to be a good friend. A good read and perfect for fans of InvestiGators and Bunny Vs Monkey.

The colourful illustrations and easy-to-read font is sure to be a hit with young readers.

I love this series and jumped at the chance to get hold of River Rescue for my younger primary pupils! Paige Braddock has really hit the sweet spot for younger readers new to graphic novels. These are just lovely, simple stories of a wise grown-up dog (Crackers), a typical grumpy heart-of-gold cat (Butter) and an irrepressible new puppy (Peanut). They’re very straightforward stories which don’t rely on puns or clever vocabulary to be funny; the humour is all in the characters, making them ideal for children who have maybe struggled but are making progress into independent, confident readers. When you hear “I can’t put it down!” from these readers, you know you’re on to something a bit special.

River Rescue tells the story of a camper van trip into the woods – super-exciting for little Peanut, perhaps not quite so much for home-loving Crackers. All is comfortable until Butter’s feline pride gets the better of him, mysteriously disappearing off for an adventure with Peanut, and the two end up needing calm, steady Crackers (and a helpful beaver!) to pull them out of the river. The illustrations are bright, clean and uncluttered, with larger typeface than usual in the speech bubbles. There’s a short bonus story and a “how to draw the characters” section at the back in the same vein as Dogman and Bunny vs Monkey.

Peanut, Butter and Crackers are great stories in their own right, but they could serve as an introduction to graphic novels and is real fun for Year 1 and Year 2.

Press Start! is a series of books aimed at readers who are ready for their first chapter books or those who feel overwhelmed by longer chapter books.

‘Game On, Super Rabbit Boy’ is set in the game of Super Rabbit Boy Land, a platform game that is activated when the boy in the story presses start. For this book, Super Rabbit Boy has to save Singing Dog who has been captured by the game’s main enemy, King Viking. Once he starts the rescue, he is faced with the challenge of successfully completing six levels of increasing difficulty with only limited lives. As the game progresses, failure occurs and Super Rabbit Boy has to learn from his errors as he restarts a level. He has to remember what he has learned, apply his new knowledge, overcome his fears and go for the win. Not only must Super Rabbit Boy not give up, but nor should the boy who is playing the game – the theme of resilience and perseverance is very strong and would suit classroom conversations about not giving up.

Children who love gaming would very likely be attracted to the book – it reflects the visual style of Minecraft of Roblox, but it will appeal to a wide audience because of the level of detail, bright colours and range of illustrations page after page. The speech bubbles, relatively simple sentences, repetition and short paragraphs will make this work well as an independent reader for the more confident, as well as a shared reader.

A laugh-out-loud short graphic novel, bound to get even the least enthusiastic readers engaged.

The three short comic-style stories would be great for introducing a graphic novel to reading sessions for those children moving on from phonics; exploring the characters, the humour and how the illustrations support the storytelling and help the reader make inferences about the characters. It is jam-packed with possibilities for the classroom. There are Narwhal and Jellyfish facts that could lead to information writing and the final text is a reflection on imagination and storytelling the blank pages would be a brilliant prompt for children to unleash their own creativity and design their own comic strip style stories.

A reading-for-pleasure ‘must have’ for the KS1 classroom! I highly recommend it!

A young graphic novel series, about two friendly ‘bugbops’ called Bumble and Snug.

This brightly illustrated story is lovely for Key Stage 1 to read independently. The characters are lovable, the story is fun and easy to follow, and the comic strip style makes for a really fun read. There are oodles of fun moments to enjoy, from picnics and pirates to jelly and a giant octopus.

Visual readers new to the graphic novel format will find this a real treat.