Oli wants to swap his mum for someone who'll let him eat loads of pepperoni pizza and watch Real Blood Bath Murders on the telly. Mother 44 drives a tank and trains secret agents. But she's also hatching an evil anti-children plot and she's looking for a boy to help her. When the Mum Shop's Matcher puts them together, it's trouble!

Review: This book was chosen as Waterstone's Book of the Month, and it's easy to see why. The narrative goes at a cracking pace and is laced with laugh-out-loud humour. What works particularly well is the friendship between Oli, keen to become a secret agent even if it means eating tapioca, and his more skeptical and streetwise friend, Skipjack, who is the first to be suspicious of Mum 44.

The narrative is peppered with interesting characters, including Oli's younger sister who, despite spending much of the story in the treehouse, makes her presence felt. The boys get to drive a tank, drug Mum 44 and break into the Mum Shop, giving a definite anarchic flavour to the story. This, coupled with delightful, quirky characters, a tight plot and humour, means children will love it.

 'The Mum Shop' is the first in a series, 'Oli and Skpjack's Tales of Trouble'. I, for one, look forward to reading the next book.

2008-09-04