Alien in My Bellybutton by Jimmy Mars (Children's, 6 years +, 10/10

July 2012, Jelly Pie
138 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Themes: tiny alien invasion, males who run from soap, little brothers, enemy evasion and invading enemy territory, lots of cheese (bad stinky cheese, inedible), a bath (both clean & dirty), a bellybutton, lots of laughs

Summary from Egmont

A giggle-tastic tale of cheese, chums and chimples! If you like Captain Underpants, you’ll LOVE this...

Flampering pufflefarts! You're huge!

Binko the alien is in for a shock when he crash lands in Pete Perkins’ belly button. Pete’s a bit surprised too.

Together, they encounter: a cheese-powered jet pack, a disgusting grandpa, a whole load of trouble

And that's not the half of it . .

Nayuleska's thoughts
I think I held back on reading this book sooner because I usually find these types of books a bit too gross for my liking. It was the total opposite! The gross parts were really funny - not too disgusting for me. The alien terms felt totally normal, and Binko is cute (he probably wouldn't like being called that). This is definitely a book for both girls and boys, with illustrations adding more humour to the stories. I look forward to reading more books in this series, if this 10/10 read is anything to go by.

Suggested read

For more alien entertainment try Spike and Alienson by Malaika Rose Stanley (5th book down the page) 

Gargoylz Spring Mayhem by Burchett & Vogler (6 years +)

March 2011, Red Fox 

320 pages, Paperback

Review copy 

Children's, 6 years + 

Themes: boy humour, pranks, lots of mischief, playful gargoylz, beach, birthdays, castle, museum, sleepover, sibling rivalry, lots of humour. 

Summary from Random House Children's Books 

Meet the Gargoylz - mischievous little monsters who are super sneaky, super naughty and have super powers too! 

They look like funny stone statues on the church next door to Max and Ben's school - but the boys soon find out that the Gargoylz come to life! And then lots of mischief, mayhem and superspy adventures are guaranteed! 

A bumper book of Gargoylz fun and mischief. Ten stories in one book - plus lots of puzzle pages. 

Nayuleska's reasons for loving the Gargoylz...they have an interesting view on life, especially when it comes to making jokes. 

How nasty/evil is the enemy? Bullies are really mean when they stop others from having fun. Thankfully the Gargoylz are able to teach Basher a lesson or two. 

Are there lots of plot twists and surprises? The most unexpected and funniest twist happened when Max's sister had a princess birthday party. I didn't expect what happened to happen, and I was almost crying with laughter at the outcome. 

What style are the illustrations? Pen and ink, which work well with the surrounding text and really emphasis the hilarity of what happens. 

One of my favourite parts was...definitely the princess party! 

This hilarious and cleverly written book (& series) gets 10/10 from me - the puzzles are related to the stories, there's an answer page and as ever there's a Gargoylz toy to play with (I hear from my neighbour's son that it is great fun). 

Be sure to check out the Gargoylz website! 

Suggested read

Definitely check out the other Gargoylz books: try one of my favourites, Gargoylz: Summer Fun