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As a child, Pamela Butchart was lucky enough to grow up in a house full of pets, have a mum and dad who were bonkers, and go to The Best Most Awesome Primary School in the WorldTM. As a student, Pamela's student jobs included: fishwife, teaching basketball in America, phlebotomist, and Artist Liaison for a (really bad) Abba tribute band. Now, Pamela teaches philosophy to teenagers and spends all day pondering questions such as, 'Is time travel possible?' and 'How do I know I'm not really a robot?' The stories write themselves really...Pamela lives in Dundee with her husband, Andy, and their two cats, Bear & Carlos. Carlos only has one eye and is Pamela's hero.
Penelope Snoop, self-styled Best-Finder-Outer-in-the-Whole-Wide-World has a successful track record in solving mysteries, but she’s facing her biggest case: her constant companion Sidney the Smelly Sock Snake has disappeared. Time to pull out the Finder-Outer kits (sidekick Carlos the dog is less keen on the hat than Penelope) and start tracking down clues. A trail of muddy footprints leads through the garden, up to the moon and back, and finally all the way to – surprise! - her mum’s wellies. There’s Sidney, in the washing machine. The story fizzes with fun, invention and energy, Penelope’s adventures brilliantly depicted in eye-catching, action-packed illustrations, details picked out in vivid neon pink. The text is just as jaunty, and this little detective is sure to prove a favourite with picture book fans.
Penelope Snoop, self-styled Best-Finder-Outer-in-the-Whole-Wide-World has a successful track record in solving mysteries, but she’s facing her biggest case: her constant companion Sidney the Smelly Sock Snake has disappeared. Time to pull out the Finder-Outer kits (sidekick Carlos the dog is less keen on the hat than Penelope) and start tracking down clues. A trail of muddy footprints leads through the garden, up to the moon and back, and finally all the way to – surprise! - her mum’s wellies. There’s Sidney, in the washing machine. The story fizzes with fun, invention and energy, Penelope’s adventures brilliantly depicted in eye-catching, action-packed illustrations, details picked out in vivid neon pink. The text is just as jaunty, and this little detective is sure to prove a favourite with picture book fans.
Misbehaving parents, frustrated artistic ambitions, a unicorn-obsessed boy who dotes on her – just some of the problems detailed in this memoir of 12-year-old Peri (thankfully only her best friend knows her real name). As she writes sitting in the wardrobe, she’s convinced that her best friend Cammy hates her, and that their band The Spoons, which also features Cammy’s cat Margaret, is finished. It also seems that the boy she ‘likes’ likes, is a rotter. Her description of the events leading up to this unusually low point also include the curse of a malevolent pigeon. The story is gloriously funny and no matter how outlandish the action, always believable, and the characters, from Peri’s classmates to her teachers and parents, very well observed. While there’s nothing really to fear from pigeon curses, readers will pick up a sense of the importance of tolerance, kindness and compassion.
Number 11 in the Baby Aliens series, A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch sees Izzy and her class plus their long-suffering teachers heading off on a school activities trip. On the official agenda is raft-building, a nature walk and a ropes course, but, as we’ve come to expect, things turn out to be a lot more surprising, risky and dramatic. Together the gang has seen off Yetis, Demon Dinner Ladies and Vampire Rats, but can they cope with Camp Mentors’ monster? As always in this hugely popular series, the story is laugh-out-loud funny, the humour driven by Butchart’s exuberant imagination and perfectly captured child’s-eye-view of life. Packed with illustrations by Thomas Flintham, this is just right for newly confident readers. The LoveReading LitFest invited Pamela to the festival to talk about A Monster Ate My Packed Lunch. The digitally native, all year round, online literature and books festival, with new content released every week is a free-for-all-users festival. What are you waiting for? Check out a preview of the event and sign up to become a member.
Selected for The Book Box by LoveReading4Kids | It all starts when Maisie breaks her leg dancing (the dancing was Jodie’s idea) and ends up in hospital, but, as is the way with Pamela Butchart’s brilliant and brilliantly funny primary school set series Baby Aliens, things just snowball from there. Before you know it the action involves curses, missing cuddly toys, ghosts and a mummy, and trolley loads of tuna sandwiches. It’s all recounted at a breathless, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace by Maisie’s best friend Izzy, with cartoon illustrations by Thomas Flintham speeding things up even more, and it makes for some of the funniest, most addictive reading around. No matter how zany things get, there’s a logic to everything that happens that children will completely understand and it’s not hard to see why this series is so popular with readers. This is the tenth Baby Aliens adventure, but it works perfectly as a stand-alone.
September 2020 Book of the Month | Jeremy is a worrier. We all know one, perhaps we even are one. He imagines risk everywhere, in burnt toast, spotty bananas, squirrels, and especially the wind. His friend Maggie has a much more laid-back approach, “What’s the worst that can happen?” is her motto. Well, one day, Jeremy gets to find out. Of course, in Pamela Butchart’s deliciously zany but reassuring story, the worst turns out to be a wonderful adventure. It’s a story that will make even the most resolute worrier unwind and one that will work its magic on the Maggies of this world too. Kate Hindley’s illustrations are typically expressive, particularly the three wordless spreads that tell the tale of Jeremy’s experience of ‘the worst’. A wonderfully clever and entertaining picture book with a very wide appeal. The overly-anxious will also enjoy Melanie Watt’s Scaredy Squirrel series, which is equally comic. You can find more books on this theme in our Anxiety & Wellbeing collection.
Joining Class 2R at Wigglesbottom Primary is always a treat, and the three adventures in this collection are typically funny, well-observed, and gorgeously illustrated. Once again, the children let their imaginations run wild, so that everyday primary school life becomes a thing of delight and wonder: could the pet rabbits in the playground be attack bunnies? Is the special visitor sitting at the back of the classroom and making Miss Riley so nervous really a TV talent scout? Could Miss Stein the music teacher be a witch? We’re happy to accept all these propositions, at least until the truth is revealed, and the stories make irresistible reading. Becka Moor’s illustrations are as bold and lively as the text, and these little stories are absolute gems.
An award winning author with an infallible touch when it comes to humour and familiar settings that all children can relate to and told with a flair for zany and exciting plots like this one!
Izzy and her friends are shocked when they find their lollipop man has disappeared! Maisie thinks he's gone to Rome but if that's true, why do they keep seeing a weird white wispy cloud around the school? And why do Izzy's legs feel cold even though she's got tights on? Could it be that the lollipop man is a phantom and he's come to spook them all?! Laugh-out-loud fun from Blue Peter Award winners Pamela Butchart and Thomas Flintham. Read more of Izzy's adventures!
Here are three more very funny stories of primary school life perfectly pitched for young readers. Wigglesbottom Primary year twos find excitement in all sorts of things – things that adults wouldn’t regard as out of the ordinary at all. When a dog appears in the playground, they decide it has superpowers and are soon finding all sorts of proof; there’s definitely something wrong with the school mashed potatoes though, they’re right about that. As for Susie Keys’s special egg and spoon race egg, keeping a distance is probably wise … Pamela Butchart catches all the joy and possibilities open in a young child’s imagination and her readers will completely understand her characters. Short chapters, lively illustrations and lots of humour make them even more irresistible reading. ~ Andrea Reece The Editor at Nosy Crow says: “These stories are a hoot from start to finish, and Becka Moor’s illustrations bring out the brilliance brilliantly. A joy for anyone who’s ever sat on an itchy story-time carpet. And who hasn’t?”
Julia Eccleshare's Pick of the Month August 2016 Lovable Pugly, a pug with a great character, is back for a hilarious new adventure. This time she is all set to solve the mystery of what Glitterpuff the Poodle who lives next door is really up to. Pugly doesn’t trust any poodle so, when things begin to go missing, he is sure it is Glitterpuff who is to blame. Dogs, cats and adventure – the mixture is irresistible in this easy to read and copiously illustrated story.~ Julia Eccleshare The Editor at Nosy Crow says “Everyone knows that pugs are the best dogs around and Pugly is the best pug ever! He thinks way beyond the back garden and while this can get him into trouble, he has a lot of fun too!” Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for August 2016 The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison Pugly Solves a Crime by Pamela Butchart Good Night, Everyone by Chris Haughton Dotty Detective and the Great Pawprint Puzzle by Clara Vulliamy The Sands of Shark Island by Alexander McCall Smith Return by Aaron Becker Super Gran by Forrest Wilson Oi Dog! by Kes and Claire Gray
