Mega Robot Bros is a long-running comic strip in The Phoenix, written and illustrated by Neill Cameron. There are three spin-off graphic novels, which are wildly popular in the school library, so we were delighted to see mega-powerful Freddy appear in a more traditional novel form too! The format is similar in style to Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates, but I would say there is a touch more text, so it’s a nice step forward for children who love the illustrated format and are ready for a slightly more complex story.

You’ve got a Freddy in your class, I’m sure – a boisterous child who hasn’t quite got control of their limbs and personal responsibility yet. A child who always wants to do the right thing, but gets it horribly wrong on a regular basis – and perhaps they’ve got an older sibling who always seems to get it right. Now equip that child with deadly lasers, a jet pack, no sense of danger and some excellent sidekicks and you’d be right in thinking absolute mayhem ensues!

Poor old Freddy is banned from using his superpowers at school after one too many incidents, but as you can imagine, there’s always a good reason – or perhaps a desperate, world-saving reason – to use them! Throw in a dodgy bully and some tricky friendship situations, and you know it’s all going to go wrong despite his best efforts to follow the rules. What makes Freddy vs School stand out is that Freddy learns and grows beautifully. He has to work hard to re-establish his friendships after disaster strikes, and to understand other people’s points of view. It’s so deftly done that it doesn’t feel preachy at all. I think Freddy is going to be really popular with primary school children looking for a hilarious, feel-good read.

This story is told in the form of letters, from Freddy and his parents and also some of the other characters. What the reader knows, but Freddy remains clueless about, is that his parents are not actually sprout farmers but secret agents on the tail of the mastermind criminal Dr Alpha Bett. This is the joke of the book, that Freddy never realises what is going on and yet somehow manages to save the day by accident. The book is delightfully doodled and illustrated by Jack Noel in much the same way as Freddy would have done and this adds to the joy of the letters and postcards he sends…

We love this laugh-out-loud series with a tongue-in-cheek humour and plenty of funny asides, but also a poignant side about bullying, overcoming adversity and dealing with big emotions.

Charlie magically changes into animals when he is worried or stressed (not necessarily chickens, though). Charlie’s worries pile up, with a brother in hospital, parents bickering and a school bully to deal with. Riproaring and hilarious antics follow suit as Charlie navigates temporarily changing into a spider, a rhino, a pigeon, snake and more.

Children with a wacky sense of humour will find this story really funny, and it provides plenty of opportunity to think and discuss the deeper topics too.

We highly recommend this fun and accessible story, which is perfect for fans on Tom Gates and Wimpy Kid. The doodle-diary style story charts the ups and downs of Stan’s life. Stan loves to use pie charts and Venn diagrams to show how he feels, which adds a super fun element to the book.

There are heaps of humorous moments to laugh at during Stan’s adventures, and also heartwarming parts where Stan and his brother learn to pool their resources and work as a team.

Children who love a visual element to their reading books will enjoy this easy to read story, which is perfect for independent reading in KS2.