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Tag Archives: humour
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down by Jeff Kinney – Book of the Week
It’s hard to believe that there are 
now eleven Wimpy Kid books, but here it is – Double Down by Jeff Kinney, continuing the hilarious adventures of Greg Heffley.
The pressure’s really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his ‘creative side’.
As if that’s not scary enough, Halloween’s just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle.
When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mom off his back by making a movie …and will he become rich and famous in the process? Or will doubling down on this plan just double Greg’s troubles?
All the Wimpy Kid books can be found on the display spinner just in front of the issue desk in the Library.
Book of the Week – Dragons at Crumbling Castle, by Terry Pratchett
This week in the library we are going to have a Terry Pratchett week, so, this week’s Book of the Week is Dragons at Crumbling Castle, a collection of fourteen hilarious short stories with pictures, puns, big letters in strange fonts, footnotes and a whole lot of exclamation marks!
Dragons have invaded Crumbling Castle, and all of King Arthur’s knights are either on holiday or visiting their grannies.
It’s a disaster!
Luckily, there’s a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who’s willing to fill it. Together with Fortnight the Friday knight and Fossfiddle the wizard, Ralph sets out to defeat the fearsome fire-breathers.
But there’s a teeny weeny surprise in store…
Book of the Week – Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death by Chris Riddell
The only thing better than a beautifully illustrated book with gorgeous red page edges and silver skulled endpapers, is one that is also full to the brim with puns and visual jokes – as well as an umbrella wielding vampire, a tightrope walking heroine and a whole gaggle of celebrity bakers…
The blurb says
Preparations are underway for the Full-Moon Fete and the Great Ghastly-Gorm Bake Off. Celebrity cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event, and as usual Maltravers is acting suspiciously. On top of all this, Ada’s elusive lady’s maid Marylebone has a surprising secret, and everyone seems to have forgotten Ada’s birthday!
Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death is the sequel to Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, which is just as gorgeous but more purple!
I Am Nit A Loser, by Jim Smith (aka Barry Loser) reviewed by MC & AD
Today we have two book reviews for the same book – both the reviewers thought I Am Nit A Loser was very funny, but they had different favourite bits…
AD said:
You should read this book because it is really funny, and a good book to read because he makes you smile and his drawings are really good. My favourite part was when Barry kept falling over on the roller skates and when he went home he camped out and thought there was a spider in his hair. I ❤ the book!
and MC said:
This book is really funny and all the characters have different personalities (apart from Barry and Nancy). My favourite bit is when they say ‘keel’ instead of ‘cool’, apart from that I liked the whole book.
Book of the Week – The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
In the unUnited Kingdom, foundling Jennifer Strange is running the Kazam agency, where you can hire a sorcerer to rewire your house or get your cat down from a tree. She has no magic skills herself (being rated at a very low 159.3), so it is a surprise when she discovers that she is fated to be the Last Dragonslayer…
In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7G.
Then the magic started fading away.
Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.
So it’s a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming.
Big Magic.
I loved this book for it’s sense of the bizarre, the peculiar alternative but utterly recognisable world, and above all because of the puns and jokes that run throughout the story. It made me giggle!
Book of the Week – Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney
What do you get when Jeff Kinney writes a road trip? You get the latest hilarious Wimpy Kid book – The Long Haul.
On the back of the book (which is outrageously orange) it says:
A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun… unless, of course, you’re the Heffleys.
The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Petrol-station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender and a runaway pig – not exactly Greg Heffley’s idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure – and this is one the Heffleys won’t soon forget.
We have ALL the Wimpy Kid books in the library – look on the display stands for them.
New books in the library – Awful Auntie by David Walliams
Now in it’s fifth week at the top of the bestseller lists, David Walliams’ latest book, Awful Auntie, has just arrived in the library.
The bit on the back says…
Stella Saxby is the sole heir to Saxby Hall. But awful Aunt Alberta and her giant owl will stop at nothing to get it from her. Luckily Stella has a secret – and slightly spooky – weapon up her sleeve…
Worryingly there is also a bit on the front which says “Free owl inside”, so I haven’t dared open it yet, which is a shame because it is gorgeously illustrated by Tony Ross. Borrow the book if you are brave enough to face Aunt Alberta and the Great Bavarian Mountain Owl.
Billionaire Boy by David Walliams, reviewed by JS
‘Billionaire Boy’ is a hilarious novel, with the odd spark of romance. I really loved how Walliams gave the character a snobby attitude at the start of the novel, which then eroded to warm heartedness. My favourite part was when everyone who used ‘Bumfresh’ gained a marvellous medical affliction – their rear ends turned purple – and a chart was made to measure how purple their rear ends were.
Hilarious!
Book of the Week – How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell
Fantastic film, terrific TV series, bit first of all it was a brilliant book… The second How to Train Your Dragon film comes out later this week, loosely based on the series of books by Cressida Cowell – hilarious laugh-out-loud books, full of appallingly bad jokes which tell the story of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third and his dragon Toothless.
Can Hiccup pass the Dragon Initiation Programme with a toothless dragon and fight the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus before it gobbles up every Viking on Berk? It’s time for Hiccup to learn how to be a Hero.
We have some of the other books in the series as well – look on the junior fiction shelves. Or go and have a look at the Barbaric Archipelago by clicking on the book cover.