The Comic Cafe by Roger Stevens (Children's, 10 years +)

5th April 2012, Frances Lincoln
pages, Paperback
Review copy

Themes: summer holidays, home alone, 1 brother & 4 sisters, strange strangers, haunted house, a rat, a cat with mountains of attitude, heaps of dirt, new friends, peril - both mild & major, rice, tea, art, lots of humour

Summary from Frances Lincoln 

Wilf and his family have moved to the seaside to start a new life by opening a run-down cafe. But for his parents it's all too much, and quite separately they decide to take a break from the family, not realising that the other has also left. So Wilf and his four younger sisters fend for themselves and decide to renovate the cafe as a surprise for their parents' return. But ghostly sounds in the house, a parade of oddball and inquisitive visitors and the mysterious links between the cafe's previous owner and the local art gallery complicate their efforts. As Wilf's superhero comic characters take shape on the cafe's walls, covering the fat ladies who previously decorated it, the children's attempts to hide their parentless state slowly unravel, leading to a dramatic turn of events on the day they open the cafe to the public

Nayuleska's thoughts
I read this when I was ill, and it really cheered me up. The siblings are hilarious. They each have distinct personalities, which prove useful as time passes without either parent. I like all of them equally, I love how they pull together especially during the scary moments. I'd love a sequel for this not too scary 10/10 read (I scare easily).

Suggested read

For another cafe read which has both humour and sensitivity, check out The Breakfast Museum by Andrew Matthews