Book Title: Agents of the Wild: Operation Honeypot (available here)
Author: Jennifer Bell
Illustrator: Alice Lickens
Publisher: Walker
Publication Date: March 2020
Most Suitable for: KS1 and Lower KS2
Reviewed By: Lauren Haines
Agents of the Wild: Operation Honeypot is a great illustrated first chapter book that would make a wonderful class story for any KS1 class or an independent read for confident 6-8 year olds.
The story follows the main character Agnes, an animal-loving girl who discovers that she has been chosen to train to be a SPEARS agent and is sent out on her first mission. Agnes soon discovers that SPEARS is the Society for the Protection of Endangered and Awesomely Rare Species and that most of the agents are wild animals!
Through special SPEARS technology, Agnes is able to understand and talk to wild animals. After completing training, Agnes is sent on a trial mission with her partner Attie (an elephant shrew) to save a rare bee. A battle between SPEARS and an evil animal collector Axel Jabheart ensues and it’s up to Agnes to save the day.
Throughout the book, animals are referred to by their Latin names followed by a short factfile – making it an excellent read for any animal lover or budding zoologist. Each page is illustrated using a pallet of green, greys, black and white. This makes the book an excellent bridge into reading short chapter books for children. I know my Year 2 class would absolutely love this book and I look forward to sharing it with them soon. I also think it would be accessible as a read-aloud-text for a younger class too, as the content isn’t too demanding and the storyline is easy to follow.
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You can order Agents of the Wild 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 Lauren for reviewing it.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
