Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon! by Ivan Brett

I got this book because the title and the blurb intrigued me. It sounded like the book was totally off-the-wall, and something I would enjoy.

After reading the book I wasn’t disappointed. The author was able to keep a certain zaniness throughout the whole book whilst still maintaining a plot which went a little something like this:

Casper Candlewacks, an 11-year-old boy, lives in a village Corne-on-the-Kobb with his family. His dad is the chef at the restaurant. One day the world-famous Italian magician, the Great Tiramisu, comes to the village to perform. However he has a coriander allergy and after eating a meal with lots of coriander at Casper’s dad’s restaurant he gets ill so places a curse on the village. This includes turning the pigeons into man-eating peckers. Casper’s dad is then blamed for this and the village sentences him to death by pigeon. Can Casper save the day?

My favourite bits were the jokes, particularly the running jokes about mice and those based on the phrase “and the rest, as they say, is history”. My worst bit was a little tangent in the middle where the book delved into the annual village donkey race. I didn’t feel this flowed well with the rest of the book.

Lastly the book is illustrated in a style that suits the writing with little quirky images popping up throughout the text.

I’m looking forward to reading the next Casper Candlewacks book already.

(Book was received through Amazon Vine and is available here)