Penny Jones is called Penny Dreadful by her father as she is a magnet for Disaster. Well meaning Penny tells 3 stories in this hilarious book about losing the class rat, taking a small 2 headed dinosaur skeleton to school for show and tell and trying to cheer up her gran in hospital by taking her cat barney to visit – all with disastrous results.
I loved the way Penny tells the story in great big long sentences hardly without a breath just like many under 10 year old girls do! Penny Dreadful is hilarious with great illustrations that add to the stories.
This was a delightful read. After a spate of reading sad / heavy / depressing books, this was just what I needed: a bit of humour and childish innocence to make me chuckle. I didn't love it as much as the Junie B. books, but it was similar: a child who attracts mishaps with a writing style that captures the child's slightly precocious but loveable tone of voice. I would certainly read more if they crossed my path.
Very much in the Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry vein, this is a collection of three short stories about a well meaning but over enthusiastic little girl called Penelope Jones, whose dad calls her Penny Dreadful when her exuberant exploits get her into trouble. They're a fun read, with great textual detail and some great black and white illustrations by Jess Mikhail. However, the lack of research about English schools irritated me; in 20 years as a Primary teacher I have never taken children on a "nature walk" as their only Science lessons, and Napoleon is not a major part of the KS1 curriculum. Also, Penny's verbal style comes dangerously close to Lola-ese. However, I can imagine children enjoying Penny's disasters, and they may encourage children just starting to read chapter books.