Greta Zargo and the amoeba monsters from the middle of the Earth by A. F. Harrold

Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 9781408881774
(Age: 8-12) Greta Zargo, an independent young girl who lives alone in her inherited house, returns in this second book to save from the world from further disaster. This time she has to contend with giant amoeba she has unwittingly released from her own garden. They are making their way around the village, Upper Lowerbridge, consuming a variety of its inhabitants.
Meanwhile Greta has to discover the whereabouts of her missing Aunt Tabitha, a great inventor, who is hosting TAFoNS, the Thirteenth Annual Festival of new Stuff.
Visiting inventors to TAFoNS have some unusual innovations such as cows who poo hamburgers (cow patties not cow pats), a new way of detecting the colour orange and miniature ostriches.
An interesting inclusion in this book are the many notes written on the side margins of the pages. These add extra quirky information to the story.
A. F. Harrod is a poet and wordsmith and loves to play around with names, my favourite being the "Hester Sometimes Conference Centre and Immobile Library".
Maps at the beginning of the book show Greta's village of Upper Lowerbridge, not to be confused with Lower Upperbridge.
Joe Todd-Stanton's illustrations are scattered throughout the novel and add to the appeal of the book.
The first Greta Zargo book is entitled "Greta Zargo and the Death Robots from Outer Space" and A. F. Harrold has also written the "Fizzlestump" series.
This novel will appeal to children aged 8-12 who love quirky, silly humour and a good laugh.
Jane Moore