Peng and Spanners
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Peng the penguin longs for adventure. But when his parents send him to a boarding school in Borderstone City, he thinks it’s going to be boring. Little does he know that he will meet Spanners the inventor cat, who loves facts and has a huge imagination.
Together, they become superheroes, seeking out the thief who stole the headteacher’s pizza place. Otherwise, how will they eat pizza? And so begins a ridiculous adventure with lots of funny dialogue (including jokes about a botty – a robot). There is also a jet engine on a scooter, a prison break and a strict school cleaner named Cinderella.
Fans of comic books and graphic novels will enjoy this, as there is a lot of humour in the text and the artwork is bright and dynamic. The two characters banter – or bicker – to their heart’s content, usually about superheroes, but they become friends.
It feels accessible, too, due to the main font being in upper and lower case, with infant 'a's, making the text easy to read. The story is broken into chapters, allowing for pauses in reading, so although it’s quite a chunky book it needn’t feel off-puttingly long. Action-packed, accessible and absolutely ridiculous (in a good way!)
