Book Title: The Attack of the Heebie Jeebies (available here)
Author/Illustrator: Tom Percival
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: April 2020
Most Suitable for: Years 3-4
Reviewed By: Angela Kent
Erika’s young brother (Randall) is ruining everything: he has taken all of their parents attention, cried all the way through the school play, chewed the fingers off Erika’s favourite toy and spilt blackcurrant juice on her favourite t-shirt. So, when he destroyed her picture, Erika lost her temper and found herself in a time out. All of this is still on her mind when she goes to sleep and enters a surprising dream world, where most of this story take place. There, we encounter heroes (the Dream Team) and monsters (the Heebie Jeebies and the Angermare). While Tom Percival has created an alluring story of heroes and monsters in Erika’s dream world, it does also deals with the underlying issues of jealousy and anger behind the nightmares – which makes this great for adults and children to read together, as there are so many conversation starters. The book is also filled with humour and Percival’s engaging illustrations, which will only increase the appeal of this book (the first in a wonderful new series). The story would make a great class read for lower KS2. In addition to this, as with Percival’s picture books, this would be a great resource for ELSAs – not only dealing with the challenges of young siblings but also exploring experiences of bad dreams and anger.
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You can order Attack of the Heebie Jeebies online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Review Panel member Angela for reviewing it.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
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