My Pet Show Panic! (Humphrey's Tiny Tales) by Betty G Birney
| My Pet Show Panic! (Humphrey's Tiny Tales) by Betty G Birney | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: A sweet tale of Humphrey the hamster being entered into a pet show. This new series takes the familiar characters, but pitches the story at a younger audience, to great success. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 112 | Date: March 2011 |
| Publisher: Faber and Faber | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0571246328 | |
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Humphrey is the classroom hamster of room 26 of Longfellow School. He's good friends with Og the frog, as well as the pupils at the school. We've met Humphrey lots of times before and thoroughly enjoyed his adventures every time. This time round, we're treated to a new series of tiny tales, for newly confident readers. Our first small adventure with Humphrey sees him being entered into a pet show, and trying not to fall foul of Clem, the big, yappy dog.
We've previously described the Humphrey books as cute but not cloying and that's a perfect shortcut to just what they're about. The warm heart, gentle narrative and accessible characters will strike a chord with young boys and girls alike. There's an active plot to keep things ticking over nicely, but there's still plenty of time to take in the atmosphere and appreciate the characters - even in a shorter book like My Pet Show Panic! Whether it's your first or tenth experience of Humphrey and chums, everyone will feel like an old friend.
The writing is smartly pitched at its young audience. It's clear and direct, so that children just moving into sharing chapter-a-night books will be able to follow it. At the same time, the vocabulary is punchy and engaging, to entice and amuse slightly older children. I particularly enjoyed hearing Humphrey speak. His repetitions of GOOD-GOOD-GOOD, BIG-BIG-BIG and NOISY-NOISY-NOISY are simple touches, but they give him his own voice, and also show children that language is something to be played with.
There's a large selection of wordsearches, puzzles and jokes after the story. These showcase Humphrey's website, as well as related puzzle and joke books. The offerings are substantial enough to feel like genuine extras, rather than simply adverts, and they will go down well with the readers.
It's always risky when a popular series branches out to a different age range, but My Pet Show Panic! ticks all the right boxes - it stays true to the originals, whilst pitching appropriately to its new audience. It's warmly recommended.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag. We also have a review of Imagination According to Humphrey by Betty G Birney.
If rodents are your thing, you'll enjoy The Clumsies Make A Mess of the Big Show by Sorrel Anderson. For more animal-based fun, check out the excellent The Great Cat Conspiracy by Katie Davies and Hannah Shaw. Although not thematically similar, Iggy and Me On Holiday by Jenny Valentine is similarly cute but not cloying, and much-loved here at Bookbag.
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You can read more book reviews or buy My Pet Show Panic! (Humphrey's Tiny Tales) by Betty G Birney at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy My Pet Show Panic! (Humphrey's Tiny Tales) by Betty G Birney at Amazon.com.
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