Ultra Violet: Down to business by Cristy Burne and Rebel Challenger

Scientist and journalist Cristy Burne works hard to provide young children with engaging, meaningful stories, often throwing in a science twist. Her other books include the Takeshita Demons series and Into the Blue. Ultra Violet is a graphic novel aimed at the reluctant reader crowd but also anyone over 7 who still finds toilet humour amusing. The first page sets this precedent really, as we are introduced to Violet, second name Butt. Violet is a scientist who works for Butt Laboratories, the only problem being that she frequently takes her experiments too far...

Varied text, humurous dialogue and oblivious parents make for a riotous and fun read. Violet is pampered with everything she wants but her parents are largely absent or glued to a screen, ignorant of her dangerous scientific escapades and close shaves with death. Her favourite things are her cheese-eating, talking hermit crab Leo and her best friend Izzy Kelly, believer of aliens, UFOs and conspiracy theories. Trying to solve the problem of the broken toilet on the day of the school bean-eating contest is definitely a job for these three, the self-named Butt Squad. An alien interloper, fun facts, great puns, an invention called a Butt Sucker and an unplanned sewer adventure make this a rollicking read. 

Cleverly separated into Chapters named Intro, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion and lots of science vocabulary make this a sciency book without it feeling like you're learning anything at all. Although if you're not a plumber, you might learn about fatbergs for the first time! This is very clever and the illustrations are fabulously full of life. 

Thankfully, there's a reference to a book number two, so we can have more ridiculous science adventures with Violet, Leo and Izzy soon.

Themes: Science, Adventure stories, Humorous stories, Graphic novels.

Nicole Nelson