Danny Best : Never wrong by Jen Storer
Ill. by Mitch Vane. Danny Best series bk. 2. ABC Books, 2016. ISBN
9780733333347
(Age: 6-8) Recommended. Diary narratives are an extremely popular
genre for young readers. Now author Jen Storer's Danny Best is a
larger than life character who believes he is a total legend, best
by name and best by nature. Danny shares four over-exaggerated
humourous short stories about his family, his friends and his school
life. Each story is told through Danny's eyes, in Chapter 1 'Bella
did it', he continually tests his mother's patience, playing with a
little wooden doll that sit above the sink. He plays tricks on his
mum until one day the arms fall off the doll. Of course, his dog
Pugsley disappears with one of the arms and Danny's race around the
back yard is truly frenetic. Finally, with his sister Bella's
interference and a little grunt glue and paint, his creative problem
solving pays off. Each story ends with a fun multiple-choice test,
how much did you remember?
Danny is a great friend inventing wonderful obstacle courses for his
gang, this time it is 'The Master's Challenge', and even Pugsley's
Dog Poo Desert is a feature. Danny proves himself a caring and fun
friend with an amazing creative ability to find the fun side of
life. When Danny's class are challenged to write stories - boys for
the girls and girls for the boys, Danny is up for the contest. His
lizard ballerina and killer slug tale is truly unique and of course,
he believes that his is a winner.
Mitch Vane's cartoon illustrations, dirty smudged backgrounds, fun
maps and crazy diagrams combined with the emphatic fonts, different
text sizes and styles make this a fast-paced story. Danny Best :
Never Wrong is perfect for independent readers who are ready
for chapter books. Read these humorous stories aloud to Year 2-Year
4 classes and challenge them to develop their own cartoon characters
and creative adventures.
Rhyllis Bignell