Slime? It’s Not Mine! Clare Helen Walsh, illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne

Lenny the ring-tailed Lemur never gets a peaceful, problem-free vacation. He’s sniffed out stinky poo’s in the Amazon rainforest, explored puzzling puddles of piddle in Alaska, now he’s up to his whiskers in slime in sunny California.

Lenny is having a blast swinging through the redwood trees in sunny California. And then…‘Ewww.’ Something has only gone and SLIMED on this head! But who is the culprit of this green, sticky, icky goo? Salamander? Opossum? Sheephead Fish? Dolphin? Sea Lion? This slimy crime needs to be solved but with all the animals claiming it is nothing to do with them, will Lenny ever find the culprit…

Slime flies when you’re having fun, right? And the animals in this caper are certainly having plenty of that, well, perhaps not Lenny. This fabulous, laugh-out-loud series continues with the determined and inquisitive ring-tailed lemur on a slime-tastic quest to uncover the culprit of this very gooey crime. Loaded with humour and an extraordinary amount of slime - who knew it was so prevalent in the animal community - poor old loveable Lenny just cannot catch a break on his hunt for the slime creator. Slime is sprayed, wiped, burped, flung, spat and generally left all over the place as Lenny ventures from the forest to the caves to the beach on his quest to solve this slimy mystery. The villain eventually revealing themselves in the form of a very unsuspecting culprit.

Facts aplenty await if you can stop yourself from giggling for long enough to read them. Who knew slime had so many awe-slime uses; helping salamanders to breathe, deterring predators from attacking opossums and sheephead fish, keeping the eyes and nose of sea lions moist, helping keep the nose of a lemur free from germs and helping slugs slide along.

Brilliant illustrations, a rib-tickling story, a fabulous and very entertaining ensemble of characters and plenty of fun information make this hugely entertaining and very educational read all about slime the perfect mix of fact and fiction. ‘Facts and Snaps’ pages at the end provide further information on all of the featured animals (as well as a mass of simple cells) and their slimy abilities. Slime Mould sounds bizarre and unbelievable in equal measure, I need to find out more about this thing that can move and solve mazes.

Recommended for 5+.