A Most Peculiar Toy Factory

Hoggle’s Happy Toys is a creepy abandoned toy factory, which has been closed for five years, ever since the toys came to life and started to attack children.

When ten-year-old Tess discovers it is to reopen, she and her siblings reluctantly agree to work there during the school holidays. Full of trepidation on their first day, events take an alarming turn when six-year-old Oliver disappears. Tess must master her fear of the menacing toys if she is to rescue her brother and discover the truth about the sinister occupants of the factory.

This darkly humorous tale will appeal to children who enjoy spine-tingling adventures with a macabre edge.

The publisher, Barrington Stoke, produces books specifically to help emergent, reluctant and dyslexic readers unlock the love of reading. Tinted pages reduce visual stress, while thick paper ensures words and pictures don’t show through and confuse the eye. A special font helps avoid confusing letter shapes and the editing aims to minimise barriers to comprehension.

The story is aimed at the age of the child rather than their reading age, and the short chapters are punctuated with black-and-white illustrations, which bring the creepy characters to life.