The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones

A new writer whose text is inextricably interwoven with the illustrations offers older KS1 and KS2 readers some very unlikely, but extremely enjoyable adventures centred round a small girl who, by picking her nose and eating the bogey, is catapulted through a space/time portal. Mabel finds herself amidst a set of dastardly pirates, a motley selection of animals who have transgressed in their past and found themselves at sea seeking the final clue to finding treasure.

Mabbit sprinkles his text with plenty of daringly naughty words, which will engage his readers, and intertextual references to Melville and Carroll with postmodern reminders of Laurence Sterne. Clever choice of type and its size emphasize the action, as do the excellent, abundant illustrations.