The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes (Boy Zero Wannabe Hero) by Peter Millett
| The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes (Boy Zero Wannabe Hero) by Peter Millett | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: A crazy comic book adventure, perfect for capturing the attention of reluctant readers, despite plenty of text. It's silly, it's funny, it's light-hearted, it's well worth a look. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 128 | Date: March 2011 |
| Publisher: Faber and Faber | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0571253265 | |
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Boy Zero Wannabe Hero has defeated General Pandemonium twice before, but as with all supervillains, he's relentless. This time, the General has come up with a wicked plan to conquer the world by making everyone float off into space by feeding them catastrophic cupcakes. Will Boy Zero be able to save the world yet again?
The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes is pure comic book silliness from start to finish. It's wild, it's wacky, the characters are perfectly ludicrous, the plot enjoyably ridiculous, and it's always amusing. Although author Peter Millett is from New Zealand, there's something very British about the sense of humour - I was frequently reminded of the Beano. There are self-deprecating touches that make all the jokes twice as funny as if they'd been played perfectly straight, with superhero arrogance. It's a wonderfully fun read, and you can tell it must have been a joy to write too.
It's very much pitched at boys, and given the high energy and cartoony nature, particularly at those who are reluctant readers. It's quite heavy on text for its young audience, but with plenty of bangs, bumps, kersmashes and pzrrrrrrrrrrrps, as well as cheesy gags by the bucketload, they'll persevere with it, regardless of their reading ability. No-one would pretend for a moment that it's literary brilliance, but it's light-hearted and will be devoured whilst unleashing fits of giggles.
Steve May's illustrations suit the comic style of the story. They're woven into the text, never dominating it, but always coming along just when a break from the text would be most welcome. They help spark the imagination, rather than dominating it - if children want to get lost in the story, they can, without feeling that they have to imagine things a specific way.
The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes is much like a cupcake itself: wonderful whilst you're eating it, satisfying in its own way, and it puts a smile on your face. You might not be able to eat it/read it all the time, but that doesn't matter, and it certainly has its place. Worth a look.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.
For wonderfully silly books like this, we still heartily recommend The Day My Bum Went Psycho by Andy Griffiths. Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbo mixes self-deprecating humour with silliness and lots of humour. You might also like Long Gone Don: The Terror-Cotta Army (The Phoenix Presents) by Robin Etherington and Lorenzo Etherington and The Adventures of Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties by Dav Pilkey.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes (Boy Zero Wannabe Hero) by Peter Millett 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 The Curse of the Catastrophic Cupcakes (Boy Zero Wannabe Hero) by Peter Millett at Amazon.com.
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