Madhouse Family Reviews: Children's book review : The Body Collector

Here at The Madhouse, we've recently discovered Nicholas Allan - he's been elected the Madhouse Mini Testers' new favourite picture book author ever ! - and his deliciously naughty and silly sense of humour in such titles as The Queen's Knickers, The Giant's Loo Roll and Picasso's Trousers. I can't wait to discover another of his books, Cinderella's Bum, which should be arriving soon - copious giggles on the cards with that one !

But once your kids have grown up a bit and want to get their teeth into a slightly longer book with a real story, while maintaining the same silly and slightly rude sense of humour guaranteed to have them snorting with laughter, the ideal series to move on to is the Ramion collection.

We've just been reading the fifteenth (yes, you did read that right !) book in the series. Called The Body Collector, it's just as nutty and enjoyable as The Blizzard Wizard, the previous episode that we reviewed a couple of years ago.

The story is an action-packed, chaotic adventure featuring Boris the skull who desperately wants to get his body back from Charlie Stench, the Body Collector, who sold him to the deliciously nasty Griselda the witch, who incidentally is sick of him because he isn't evil enough. Forget Pandora's box, Griselda's box of evil is the one we should all be worried about because it contains such scary things as Globerous Ghosts, Mystic Mummies, Venomous Vampires and Scary Scots playing bagpipes. Luckily, these evil entities can be defeated with classic kid weapons like muddy hands and sticking your tongue out - kids will love to read that the things they usually get in trouble for turn out to be super-powers ! - and a little help from the strange rabbit Screwy-Louie and the Cat Warrior. Sounds crazy ? Yep, it certainly is !

It's a short, easy-to-read chapter book that is ideal for tweens but the numerous brightly coloured illustrations will keep younger children entertained while you read the text if they're too young to read it by themselves.

If you think the £12.99 price tag is too high, firstly remember it's a hardback with lovely glossy paper. Secondly, you'll be pleased to know that there's a BOGOF (that's buy-one-get-one-free but I'm sure Frank Hinks would prefer the naughty-sounding version !) offer at the moment, allowing you to buy both The Blizzard Wizard and The Body Collector for £12.98 with free delivery. Check out the special offer page at Perronet Press before 15th November.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £12.99