If you’re looking for some fun reading for your child that is either hilarious (Stink) or if they’re really into gaming (Leo Jantjies) these two books that we’ve read recently will do the job of entertaining them.
Stink: Worst. Fairy. Ever. by Jenny McLachlan
This book doesn’t waste any time pretending to be a traditional fairy tale. This fairy is a total disaster and she tries to fix her mistakes by adding to the chaos. I read about this book on Instagram and knew Nicky would enjoy this sort of thing.
Eleven year old Danny is given a “fairy door” from his sister on his birthday. He thinks it’s pretty useless but in fact it’s a portal to fairyland, and wonder of wonders, a fairy comes through. Not just any fairy. S.Tink. Or Stink for short. And the only way he can get rid of her before he goes to school is to get her to do a good job and earn fairy nuggets so that she can get new wings.
Here is an extract. One of their hair brained schemes was to get a troll to cut the neighbour’s lawn.
The troll flew around the garden like a hungry tornado gobbling everything in its path.
To begin with it was brilliant. Soph and me were clapping and cheering and Stink was down on her bird table shouting out stuff like Eat the tree! Eat the bush! …No. Don’t eat the fox. Spit it out. SPIT IT OUT!
Here’s what the troll ate: 17 bushes. All the grass. 6 trees. All the brambles. 1 wheelbarrow. Loads of nettles. 1 trolley. My best friend, Kabir.
That’s right. The troll ate the top half of my best friend Kabir…
I jumped down from the tree house and grabbed hold of Kabir’s feet. Stink whipped out her wand ready to do a spell. Sophie laughed like it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen in her life.
It was Kabir’s skateboard that saved his life. He carries this skateboard with him everywhere he goes (even though he can’t skate) and one of the wheels got caught in the troll’s teeth. The troll coughed. I pulled and Kabir shot out of the troll’s mouth along with a load of troll spit.
Straight away Stink yelled “Yellow!” and the troll shrank to the size of a mouse and disappeared under the shed. Kabir was in a state. In fact, he became hysterical and started running in circles screaming, “HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!” and that’s when Stink decided to shrink him too.
“YELLOW!” she cried and BOOM! Kabir shrank. Now I became hysterical.
“Stink, why did you do that?!”
“Because he was hurting my little ears!” she said.
I picked up mouse-sized Kabir (to stop the foxes from eating him) and held him tight.
“Stink! I can’t believe you shrank my best friend!”
“Temporarily,” she said.
Leo Jantjies and the Esports World Championship by Sally Partridge (aimed at 9-12 years)
Thirteen year old Leo (or LeonIdas, his gaming name) is obsessed with the fictional game TOGAH (Theatre of Gods and Heroes). In this game, players play different characters with different abilities in teams, trying to beat the gods. Leo is especially good at playing King Shaka.
Somehow, somebody gets a wind of his skills, and a clip of him playing goes viral. He lands up in the top ESports team at the Esports World Championship in Paris. Along for the ride are his sister Lauren and best friend Fiks.
Unlike the other book, whose strength is humour, I think this book is really about what happens when we’re placed in a high pressure situation suddenly, and the lessons learnt when we have to change our plans quickly from what we are expecting.
Leo expected to play Shaka, and that was taken from him. He had adjust and play another character, as well as deal with this change emotionally.
Leo felt empty. Team Galaxy had taken away his whole reason for being there even before the game had started. Coach Maxim had flown Leo across the world because he was the best Shaka player. At that moment, he was no better than anyone else.
Once they’d made their pick, Maxim approached Leo’s chair.
“Come with me,” he said.
Leo forced himself to stand and cross the booth with Maxim. His legs felt like jelly. They turned so that their backs were to the cameras.
“This isn’t the disaster you think it is,” said Maxim.
“Isn’t it?” replied Leo in a high voice that didn’t sound like his own.
“No. Ve know there was a fifty-fifty chance this could happen. And dat is okay. Ve’ve been trainink hard for today, and ve know vhat to do. Remember the plan?”
Leo nodded. “But why would they choose a character they can’t play that well?” he asked, sniffling.
“So that ve can’t,” replied Maxim. “They took a risk, thinkink it vould put us off our game, givink them a greater advantage. But ve are a better team. Ve play together better. That’s more important than not-so-secret veapons.”
Leo tried to smile, but the cyclone was still raging inside him.
“You are one of the best players in the vorld, Leo, and we need you. Vill you do it? Vill you play?”
Leo inhaled and nodded. “Ja, I can do it.”
“Goot, now let’s go.”
So whether you need a good laugh or some inspiration when life hands you other plans, both these books are good ones for the older kids / teens/ tweens. I hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.
[…] Read my other suggestions for tween books here. […]