Having two children of the approapriate age for the book, I was asked to review David Baddiel’s, AniMalcolm, in paperback.

It’s always a bit of a worry when you are asked to review something, my first thought being, what do I do if the girls don’t like it? Well, I needn’t have worried, K read it in two days flat, she couldn’t put it down! I heard her laughing out loud (giving away that she was still reading at 10pm!) in bed and sat at tea time trying to eat with one hand while keeping the pages turning with the other!

So, who better to write a review for the book than K herself? She’s 11 years old, loves animals and is a self-confessed, bookworm! Over to K:

Malcolm’s family love animals, but he doesn’t! After the unfortunate ‘poo’ incident at the zoo, when Malcolm was six (which his family have named the ‘monkey moment’) Malcolm has absolutely loathed animals. However, his opinion slowly changes when he goes on his school residential trip…….to a farm! Malcolm soon realises that being an animal is harder than it looks. Much harder!

I like this book because it is so exciting and has many twists and turns, you never know what’s going to happen next! I thought that the ‘monkey moment’ was hilarious and loved the weird goat that cursed Malcolm at the farm. All the animals speak different languages and when the dog (Trotsky) tries to speak cat, I actually blurted out with laughter, it was so funny! All the characters had such different personalities, the cat (Zsa-Zsa) was just how I’d imagine a cat would be if cats could talk, and the way the sheep had to agree with each other all the time, made me giggle.

Lou (8) is reading it now and though she is currently a more reluctant reader, the nicely sized and well spaced print combined with the plenty of illustrations, makes it more reader friendly for younger children.

The animal aspect is also the main temptation for Lou, any child who loves animals, will enjoy this book! Animals aside, the ‘poo, bum, wee humour’ will appeal to all primary aged children, boys and girls alike. With chapter titles like:

‘Lord King Louie’s Precious Pile of Poop’

and lines like:

‘turned around, bent over, and said, Here’s my bum!’

and

‘the terrible scent of cheesy goat wee’

All hilarious if you’re a pre-teen, apparently!

K is already on the look out for more books by David Baddiel, it seems he has a new fan!

This is a sponsored review but all thoughts and opinions are our own.