Oliver and the Seawigs

Oliver and the Seawigs is a good example of a book that's been crafted to entertain verbally and visually. My 8 year old loathes reading, to the point we have a war of words about it; her misuse and mispronounciation of basic words validates the parental point of why reading is vital, and no, 'Where's Wally' books do not count.However, Oliver and the Seawigs has plugged the gap nicely. She reads it every evening, but is fast coming to the end of it. Please, Philip, for the love of parenting, do write some more.

Oliver Crisp lives with his explorer parents and has spent most of his childhood travelling around the world with them. Now, reluctantly, his parents have decided that there is nowhere else they haven't visited and are reluctantly settling down in Deepwater Bay. Oliver is ecstatic about having a bedroom of his own and even going to school for the first time. However. on arrival, his parents eyes light up on seeing some small, unmapped, islands on the bay. Leaving Oliver to unpack they head out in their dingy to explore - by evening, all the islands but one, and his parents, have vanished...This is a truly imaginative, exciting and funny read for children of approx 7+(although both my nine and six year old read it with great enjoyment). Oliver finds that the islands, known as the Rambling Isles, travel through the sea and, at the moment, are heading for the Night of the Shallows. So, prepare yourself for an island called Cliff (and the Shallows - I had to explain that joke!), a wig wearing competition, a grumpy albatross called Mr Culpeper, a delightful short sighted mermaid called Iris and a wonderful baddie, Stacey de Lacey, and his army of sea monkeys. The illustrations bring the story to life and I adored the Sarcastic Sea and the Singing Rocks. Wonderful to read aloud, or alone, this is a fantastic book which will appeal to both boys and girls - and their parents.

I was sceptical about this initially but was a surprisingly engaging read. Vocabulary was challenging at times without making the story inaccessible (8-9 year olds)

A rather strange book, this one: the storyline is really more suited to the 6 - 8 age range but the language is more suited to the 8 - 12 age range and as such it rather falls between two stools. It's a nice enough story which is charming (from an adult's perspective) rather than gripping, and at the point where one of the main characters says "This is lame" I realised this is exactly what I'd been thinking so far.

I heard the author talking about this book on the radio, and he said he wanted to capture the fell of the old Noggin the Nog books, and as I was a big fan as a child I decided to give this a try for my kids.When it arrived I wasn't disappointed, it's well bound and beautifully illustrated throughout, so looked forward to reading it with my youngest kids.We've not finished it yet, but I'm finding the story enjoyable, and the kids love it !!I would recommend this book to anyone with primary school age kids.