The Creakers; Tom Fletcher, illustrated by Shane Devries

Ever heard a strange creak in the night? Ever wondered what makes those noises? You’ve probably been told that it's old pipes or the stairs, but what if it was something else. Something lurking under the bed just waiting to come out once the sun sets. What if it was…a CREAKER!

Something strange is going on in Whiffington Town. When Lucy Dungston wakes up one morning she is shocked to find that her mum has disappeared. And Lucy’s mum isn’t the only one to have vanished…all the adults have. For most kids this is the best day ever and they are soon running wild but Lucy is busily thinking about what could possibly have happened, especially as her dad vanished in the same mysterious fashion just a few months earlier.

Lucy’s investigations are going nowhere until she spots some eyes lurking under her very own bed. Monsters. Under the bed. Every child’s worst nightmare. And these monsters, The Creakers, might know something about the disappearing adults…

Slightly scary, often funny and definitely magical, The Creakers is a fun-filled fantasy adventure that will have everyone taking an extra long look under the bed before bedtime to check that the monsters - that we’ve all imagined at some point - are most definitely not there hiding in the dark. The disgusting and stinky Creakers - that I can assure you, only exist in this story and the imagination of Tom Fletcher - are a brilliant bunch of mischievous monsters who love getting up to no good, sprinkling Dozy Dust and then stealing rubbish to take back to their underground hovel whilst you’re fast asleep. And when things get too tidy, they don’t mind stealing an adult to leave the children alone to cause all kinds of mess and chaos.

Trying to clean up the mess and put a stop to the mischievous antics is the brilliant Lucy, who finds herself as the one that all of the children look to for advice and to hopefully find their parents. The plucky and feisty heroine, accompanied by the quiet, scout-badge collecting Norman, is determined to do whatever it takes to reunite families even if it means entering the Woleb, the backwards, topsy-turvy world of opposites below the ground and home to The Creakers.

Speaking of the Woleb, what a randomly quirky and fun place that is. Accessed by a portal under the bed, the shape-shifting world that lies below the real world is bursting with imagination and is delightfully disgusting. Kids will love this land of opposites where yes means no, laughing means crying and where parent-napped adults behave like children.

The story excels at being exciting, funny and most definitely creepy without becoming too frightening for children. Helping the reader along and there to hold their hand through any particularly scary moments is the author who checks in with the reader between chapters to make sure that they are OK - Fletcher's timely and amusing interventions should quell any fears of actual Creakers lurking under beds. Keeping things more fun than frightening and bringing much of the action to life are the superb black and white illustrations of Shane Devries.

Told over thirty quick to read chapters that often end on cliff-hangers, I was racing through the pages desperate to find out what would happen next, at no point in the story was I ready for the Dozy Dust to settle in the corners of my eyes and send me to sleep. I would expect children to be reading long past their bedtimes.

This kind of magical fun will always delight young children!

Recommended for 7+.