You NEED to check out Tele-porta-loo by The Listies! This is going to be THE book kids are talking about. I guarantee it.
If you’ve not heard of them (but seriously how could that be!), The Listies are Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly. They are a kids comedy duo who make kids giggle and LOL with their in-person and online comedy shows. They’re also the authors of the seriously funny encyclopedias: Icky-pedia and Icky-foodia.
Tele-porta-loo is their first narrative story for kids, and as the first in a series, The Listies have now truly landed in the kid lit community. And honestly, they blow it out of the park (or the toilet!).
In Tele-porta-loo Matt and Rich (yes, they star in their own hilarious story) make a beeline for Nan’s house to deal with a wee emergency. But when Matt decides to use the forbidden porta-loo in Nan’s backyard, he discovers Nan has been keeping secrets.
The porta-loo is actually a teleporting machine, and after pressing some buttons they should not have pressed, Matt and Rich are teleported to a strange world where everyone wears slippers and says ‘shhhhh!’ a lot.
Meanwhile, Nan tries to deal with the broken toilet in her house, which means dealing with her interdimensional nemesis who wants to destroy everything.
To save Earth, Matt and Rich must find a special object in the strange other world. But there’s a problem. Well, actually, there are two problems. The first is that Matt keeps doing things that complicate matters (and make them funnier). And the second is the giant monster that rules the other world.
With detailed and hilarious illustrations on every page (by Matt and Rich themselves), this book is delivered in a very cool graphic novel/comic book style. It’s probably slightly more on the illustration side in the text to picture ratio, making it a great book for reluctant readers or kids who love a healthy serving of pictures with their words.
It's also JAM-PACKED with funnies. And there’s something in here for adults and kids, which makes this a book families can enjoy together.
Of course, fittingly, there is loads of toilet humour to be found between these pages, and I love how Matt’s silliness and love of living in the moment equals some super funny situations that come back to bite the duo in the bottom AND help save the day.
Tele-porta-loo was a joy to read, and I predict it will become a favourite amongst kids and classrooms. Truly awesome reading fun!
Tele-porta-loo was a joy to read, and I predict it will become a favourite amongst kids and classrooms. Truly awesome reading fun!
Title: Tele-porta-loo
Author/Illustrator: The Listies (Richard Higgins and Matt Kelly)
Publisher: Puffin, $14.99
Publication Date: 31 August 2021
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761042119
For ages: 7+
Type: Junior Fiction
