Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon! [Paperback]

What I like most in this book is its systematic encouragement to be curious about absolutely everything around. It concerns the descriptions of the major and minor characters, the observations of things and matters, the developments of the plot, the portrayal of dreams and fears, etc. I have noticed, for example, after reading the book my children had discussed certain tricks of The Great Tiramisu, as well as the practicalities of various inventions and devices, such as the glow-in-the-dark trousers and the sponge shoes. There is certainly a lot of humor and imagination, dynamic narration, funny names and delightful dialogs. Truly engaging writing.
The main character is an 11-year old boy, and this is probably an indication of the most likely audience, however, my 9-year old boys had effortlessly made it through and described it rather positively.

There have been some pretty fantastic books released so far in 2011, and this hilarious debut by Ivan Brett ranks right up there as one of my personal favourites. In fact, it should come with a health warning: if read at bedtime make sure plastic bed sheets are fitted as your child will laugh so much a little bit of wee may come out.

As the blurb says, our hero, Casper Candlewacks (just the first in a plethora of clever plays on words in this book), is the only boy with any sense living in a village full of idiots, that village being the wonderfully named Corne-on-the-Kobb. Such an obvious premise I am surprised it hasn't been used more often, and it is made all the better by the fact that none of the other inhabitants of said village realise just how stupid they are - the closest they get to this is their dislike for Casper, because he is different. And by different we mean he can do things like joined-up writing and knows his times tables. In Chapter One we see first hand some of the persecution young Casper faces on a daily basis, this time from his teacher, Mrs Snagg - a distinctly unpleasant lady that no child of average intelligence or above would enjoy having for lessons. In fact, she is so stupid that she can't even read - she sets Ivan a punishment essay about the soon-to-be-visiting magician, the Great Tiramisu, and he manages to submit a previously completed essay on Brazil in its place without her having the slightest clue. And Corne-on-the-Kobb is full of people like this.

You would be right in thinking that Casper's life is pretty miserable. He is bullied by both teachers and pupils at school, his mother suffers from some form of post-natal depression that has manifested itself in the form of an addiction to watching TV, his younger sibling Cuddles (Casper still hasn't worked out if it is a boy or a girl) has razor-sharp teeth and will gnaw on just about anything, and his father is left to do all of the household tasks, as well as the head chef at the village's only restaurant, The Boiled Sprout. Casper's only friend is a boy called Lamp, although he is possibly the most idiotic boy in the village full of idiots. Lamp is obsessed with inventing things, many of which are unmitigated disasters, although to tell you about some of them would ruin the laughs in store for you. For this same reason I am not going to reveal any more about the plot - suffice to say this is one of 2011s must read books for the 9+ age group. Girls will find it funny as well, although I have a feeling that the humour will have the greatest appeal to boys.

To compare Ivan Brett with the great Roald Dahl would be incredibly premature, this being only his first book, although I am sure there will be a number of readers already drawing these parallels, especially in the way that both authors have littered their work with nasty secondary characters, whom readers just can't wait to see come to some kind of sticky end. However, on the basis of this story his future could be so bright a pair of shades just might be required pretty soon. Publishers please take note - we want more books like this. We've had many years of great books aimed at the teen market, surely it is now time for the Middle Grade audience to be spoiled as well?!

Casper Candlewacks and his geeky sidekick Lamp (yes, really) are the only intelligent people in a country village peopled by bullies and idiots. We are firmly in Roald Dahl territory here, where sadistic stereotypes exist to make life hellish for resourceful children.

Casper's home life leaves much to be desired - his family consists of his exhausted father, who is the chef at the village's really rather awful restaurant, his useless TV-addict mother and a baby of indeterminate gender and unparalleled hideousness. At school he is bullied by his teacher and his classmates - only Lamp doggedly clings to him, eager to demonstrate his embarrassing inventions.

You'd think things couldn't get much worse, but of course they do - Casper manages to anger a volatile Italian magician who promptly curses the whole village. Of course, it falls to Casper and Lamp to save the day - which they do using Lamp's latest creation - a buggy that runs on soap bubbles - more than a little luck and the inside information that the Italian magician is highly allergic to coriander. This is the kind of book where if it says something makes a character's head explode, that is precisely what happens.

What redeems this book from often-imitated cliche is the liveliness of its writing, which is genuinely original and funny. Children will love the random craziness of Ivan Brett's metaphors ("children were rolling around like terrified sausage rolls", for example). My review copy wasn't illustrated throughout, but the few pages that were suggest that the pictures will add a further level of wackiness and break down any lingering resistance to the printed word in its target audience (probably boys aged around six to nine, though there's much for girls to enjoy, too).

So, if your little one has worked their way through Hiccup Haddock Horrendous and Mr Gum and is clamouring for more of the same, this will fit the bill nicely. I hope it's one of a lengthy series.