Space Mash: Wheelnuts! Craziest Race on Earth #3

Space Mash: Wheelnuts! Craziest Race on Earth #3 by Knife & Packer (Scholastic Australia)

PB RRP $12.99

ISBN 978-1-74362-724-2

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Buckle up! In Space Mash, the latest book in the Wheelnuts! series, readers - and racers - must be able to handle zero gravity racing, showers of meteorites and hungry aliens. Warren 'Wheelie' Wheelnut has taken his third challenge out into space and this race is about to blast off! 

The now familiar teams have transformed their cars into rockets and are ready to tackle even the most unexpected challenges such as zero gravity playing havoc with Campbell's moustache, making it float and covering his eyes. Rust Bucket 30000 has the greatest advantage as these robots are used to flying around in space and they have just purchased the perfect weapon for cheating. It’s hard to see how any other team is going to beat them.

Wipeout and Dipstick the two villains are hanging around as usual in their disguises  trying to disrupt the racers and the mid-race challenge - Hey Dude There Are Robot Ants In My Space Underpants - will have most racers yelling "I'm a Wheelnut, get me out of here!"

The wacky, slapstick  humour, the vibrant colourful illustrations and the action packed racing crammed with crazy, cheating, dirty scoundrels continues in this series and is a fun and entertaining read for seven-year-olds and older.

At the end of the book is a Space Mash board game which can be detached and played. Choose your team and get driving!

Wheelnuts! Craziest Race on Earth: Desert Dust Up

Wheelnuts! Craziest Race on Earth: Desert Dust Up by Knife & Packer (Scholastic Australia)
HB RRP $6.99
ISBN 978-1-74362-526-2
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

From the creators of Freak Street (Knife & Packer) comes Wheelnuts!, a new series full of wacky racers and their quest for winners glory on the extreme race tracks dreamed up by eccentric billionaire Warren Wheelnut. Desert Dust Up kicks off the series with an action-packed race through the desert filled with adventure, danger and the evil Waylon ‘Wipeout’ Wheelnut who will stop at nothing to disrupt these races his successful older brother runs.

Beginning at Wheelie City, a glitzy holiday resort in the middle of the desert, six teams compete for first place, roaring through checkpoints as well as hazards such as the Mountains of Doom, the Gulch of a Thousand Mirages and huge robotic scorpions with enough rust venom to disable sixty cars.

Teams such as the Wheel Deal, super star couple Myley Twinkle and Dustin Grinner from boy band One Way Traffic, will appeal to the young readership this series is written for. The action and sneaky cheating is fun and non-stop. Reader will be barracking for their favourite team and booing the villains, Wipeout and his sidekick Dipstick.

The full glossy pages, with cartoon like illustrations, are colourful and vibrant.

It reminds me of the TV cartoon ‘Wacky Races’ that I loved as a child and I’m sure young, beginner and reluctant readers are going to devour this series.

As it’s the first in the series, Desert Dust Up has a very low price. Look out for the next extreme race in Spooky Smackdown. May the best team win!

 

Freak Street : Meet the Piratesons

Freak Street : Meet the Piratesons by Knife & Packer (Scholastic Australia)

PB RRP $10.99

ISBN 978-1-74283-670-6

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

The Piratesons are just an average, everyday family. Average, that is, for families who live on Freak Street. Some of their neighbours include the Supersons, the Werewolfsons and the Zombiesons. The Piratesons, who live in the middle of a pond with their pet piranha Phlippers, are Mr and Mrs Pirateson, Polly, Pattie and Paxton.

When Patty removes a board of the bottom of their ship to make a skateboard, their home springs a leak. While fixing this problem, Mr Pirateson uncovers a long lost treasure map and so despite Patty’s entry in the City Skate Bowl Grand Opening, it is time for the Piratesons to embark on a treasure hunt.

Full of illustrations, this is a fun book for young readers. The amusing antics of the Piratesons land them in trouble and it takes the special skills of every family member to get them out of the situation and back home safely.

Supported by a popular website, www.freakstreet.com.au where kids can ‘join the freaks’ or learn more about the all the families on the street, Freak Street is a humour-based readable and accessible series for six to nine year olds. Heavy, glossy, colourful pages make this an attractive book to read and suitable for both genders. There are fifteen books to collect.

Freak Street : Meet the Werewolfsons

Freak Street : Meet the Werewolfsons by Knife and Packer (Scholastic UK)
PB RRP $10.99
ISBN 978-1-74283-671-3
Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Freak Street is a street like any other. Families live, work and play together here. And it is on this street the Werewolfsons live. In Meet the Werewolfsons we are introduced to the life of this happy and hairy family, Mr and Mrs Werewolfson, Wilf, Winny, Wally and their pet Lambada.

On the night of the full moon, Mr Werewolfson throws a disco party. And with Deathfang, the largest werewolf in town, come ...fleas! This is the start of flea trouble which follows the family to the annual city pet show, where Mr Werewolfson’s pet grooming saloon is in high demand... until the fleas threaten to shut them down. Can Wilf and Winnie solve the flea problem? And what is going on at the planetarium?

Meet the Werewolfsons is an entertaining story about a family with a twist. Attractively set out in full glossy colour, this illustrated chapter book will be enjoyed by readers in the younger primary age as well as by reluctant readers.

Supported by a popular website, www.freakstreet.com.au where kids can ‘join the freaks’ or learn more about the all the families on the street, Freak Street is a humour-based readable and accessible series for six to nine year olds. There are fifteen books to collect.