Outrageously hilarious, beyond engaging and the best fun you can have with paper and words!
This is a FANTASTIC series for kids.
It follows Charlie McGuffin, who has a very special and interesting talent: Charlie can morph into animals!
He can make it happen by thinking about things that make him sad, angry or stressed, but he doesn’t quite have control over the animals he turns into, which results in hugely hilarious challenges for Charlie.
I haven’t read the first two books in the series (Charlie Changes into a Chicken and Charlie Turns into a T-Rex), but it caused me no confusion whatsoever. Author Sam Copeland does a great job of getting readers up to speed on Charlie’s adventures.
In this particular adventure, Charlie and his friends notice that pets and animals are going missing across town (feared eaten). Charlie’s friends suspect it’s Charlie changing into animals and eating other animals without realising it, but Charlie swears it isn’t him, even if the evidence points in that direction. Can Charlie and his friends solve the mystery of the missing (possibly eaten) animals?
Easy to read with large text and brilliant illustrations by Sarah Horne throughout (with some very funny Easter eggs to find), this is an engaging and addictive read. Kids (and adults) who love non-stop laughs and a fast moving story will love this book.
It’s got a healthy dose of grossness kids will love and so much humour in some really cool and different ways — like the foot notes that appear throughout where Copeland adds in additional notes to hilarious effect, and the funny letters from fans and the publisher about Copeland’s quirky refusal to make Charlie change into the very animal that is described in the title of each book.
But perhaps this is the one, dear reader. Perhaps Charlie will change into a mammoth in this instalment.
You’ll just have to read it to find out!
Title: Charlie Morphs into a Mammoth
Author: Sam Copeland
Illustrator: Sarah Horne
Publisher: Penguin Random House, $14.99
Publication Date: 4 February 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780241346235
For ages: 7 - 12
Type: Junior Fiction, Middle Grade Fiction
