A Speed Bump & Slingshot Misadventure: Night of the Living Shadows; Dave Coverly

Plenty of feathers in a flap in this wickedly funny madcap adventure.

Today is an important day for best friends Speed Bump and Slingshot. It is the day that they will earn their Scavenger Badge and graduate from Bird Scouts to Eagle Scouts. They just need to find a few items that, thanks to the knowledge of an energetic Nuthatch, can be acquired at the shopping mall. But acquiring items at the mall is anything but straight forward. With lock-ins to negotiate and an inadvertent bird-napping, do Speed Bump and Slingshot really have what it takes to graduate to Eagle Scouts…

If you like birds and want a read that is big on humour and comedy then this is the book for you. It is a romp of an adventure with all sorts of mayhem as two friends, guided by a hyperactive Nuthatch, get up to all sorts of hijinks. It genuinely had me laughing out loud and I will definitely be checking out the other titles in the series. The birds in this book are brilliant. Conversations are particularly hilarious as Speed Bump and Slingshot meet straight talking bluejays, a nuthatch who doesn’t know when to shut up and a dishevelled bird who lives in a bin.

The story is told through a combination of comic strips, traditional narrative and oversized illustrations with speech bubbles. Comedic moments are non-stop, whether it be slapstick humour, a funny one-liner or one of the many puns. Wordplay is in abundance and the shop names are particularly amusing - Bloominquails, Birkenstork, Abirdcrombie & Finch and my absolute favourite…Starbeaks.

Recommended for 7+.