Prank wars: Game on by Louise Park and Mo Johnson. Illus. by Jules Faber

Hannah and Jake live in Caper Street in a bizarre and oddly designed house that has been altered by their tinkerer father. Until the new kids arrive at the house across the road their lives are reasonably normal (although their Gran GG and their mother, and sometimes their father, seem to display some considerable eccentricities). The new kids are from the Cruelly family and start to target Hannah and Jake Vann-Wong and inflict unfunny barbs in their direction. Hannah and Jake must discover talents that reveal their family heritage (and special powers) to combat the actions of the Cruelly kids. Their dog Ziggy is also a shape-shifting agent with abilities that are yet to be explored to the full. 

In a bizarre way this story involves kid vs kid prank action that has some magical moments of mayhem. It will obviously be the first of more in the Prank War sagas. Initially the chronology of the plot in this book was a little twisted with Friday’s action being followed by Monday to Thursday’s lead up, but this initial confusion did eventually disappear. Hopefully younger readers will persist past the weirdness of the start and will enjoy the strange launch into a magical, spy-like family quest for supremacy over their rivals. Illustrated in humorous cartoon style and with side-bar identification of characters, this is a book for readers aged 7-10 who enjoy pranks and humour. Beating the Cruelly kids in pranking will raise Hannah and Jake’s skill set for the future … they are agents-in-training, and more skills will be added with time (and the next book)! 

Themes: Spies, Pranks, Family, Humour.

Carolyn Hull