Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction! by Andi Watson

Book Review: "Countdown to Destruction!" is the third book in the Gum Girl series. It is a comic book consisting of three stories. In each story schoolgirl Grace Gibson, or Gum Girl, uses her gum to foil some nasty villain who is up to something naughty.

In "Gum Girl in Time Trial" she takes on Doctor Tick Tock and his baby assistant Mr Higgins as they steal time. In "Gum Girl in Roller Grrlz" she takes on "the Roller Raider" who wants to blow up the city and replace it with a more roller skate friendly town, "No stairs, no hills, no uneven pavements..." Then in the final story "Gum Girl in Space Cadets" she has to stop "a member of the Evil Genius After-School club" blasting an anti-gravity ray from a space probe.

The colour scheme uses a limited palette, with mainly pinks, greens and yellows. so it has a distinctive style which should appeal to girls. The drawings are clean and there are some good jokes in the stories too.   

It is interesting that this is a comic aimed at girls as you might expect boys to be more interested in this type of format but my eight-year-old daughter liked this.

Release date: March 2013

Amazon UK link: Gum Girl: Countdown to Destruction!

Dr KittyCat is ready to rescue Daisy the Kitten by Jane Clarke

Book Review: This is a great book for the stated 5-8-year-old group. I read it with my 4 and 8-year-old daughters.

 

First thing that I noticed is the art style. There are pictures on every page in the art style as on the cover. Real photos of animals are used with smiles and clothes and things drawn around and on them. The colours in the book are black, white and orange which works well. Other books in the series use different colour schemes to match their main border colour as on the cover, and it is a clever art style that differentiates these books from the competition.

 

The story follows Dr KittyCat with her assistant Peanut the mouse on "Shiny smiles day" where she checks the other animals' teeth. Whilst doing this little tips are written in to the text to help children understand about how to care about their teeth and what to expect when visiting the dentists. For example one animal is nervous and Dr KittyCat reassures her that there is nothing to worry about. Dr KittyCat also tells another animal the correct way to brush her teeth.

 

After their morning clinic is over Dr KittyCat and Peanut need to go to the Thistletown festival to help Daisy the Kitten, and to judge a cake baking contest. This is related of course because of the effect cakes can have on your teeth. It also gives the opportunity to slip in some tips about staying safe when baking cakes with a hot oven.

 

My girls enjoyed this book and also dressed up in their doctors fancy-dress stuff to play doctors in between reading sessions so a good book.

 

Amazon UK link: Dr KittyCat is ready to rescue Daisy the Kitten

 

Release date: 2 July 2015