
Dave Pigeon (Royal Coo!)
by Swapna Haddow, illustrated by Sheena Dempsey
Interest age: 6 to 11
Reading age: 6+
Published by Faber & Faber, 2019
About this book
Dave Pigeon is obsessed with food (crumbs, soggy rice cakes, anything), so drags his friend Skipper to the Royal Palace to enjoy tasty leftovers from a grand party.
Unfortunately, they’re arrested by Corvus (the guard) and placed in a dark crate; Dave is accused of stealing the prince’s face! Luckily the Royal Pigeon, Prince Raju, takes pity on the pair and, as well as releasing them, he agrees to secretly swap places with Dave for the day. The prince can have freedom from royal duties and Dave can enjoy limitless food and the comfort of royal life. The plan fails as lazy Dave struggles in his royal duties and offends royal dignitaries. Worse still, he falls victim to the prince jealous sister trying to overthrow him – it’s a royal coo!
This storybook will have children tittering throughout at poor Dave’s cat-brained antics and the puns and bird-facts provide lots of great talking points too.
As a chapter book with fun illustrations, it’s an ideal choice for younger readers to have their vocabulary stretched with an age-appropriate story. The book’s conversational style and use of speech bubbles and adorable sketches will undoubtedly have children racing through and asking for more books from the series.
About the author

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