The Clumsies make a mess at the zoo by Sorrel Anderson

The Clumsies are back in their fourth hilarious and very messy adventure ...Everyone's favourite biscuit-munching, tea-drinking, talking mice are back and this time they are making a mess of the zoo. Quality writing and side-splitting humour combine in these 
brilliant stories that will be loved by children and adults alike.


Howard and the Clumsies are excited about their trip to the zoo, but when they arrive the animals are in hiding, Raspberry the giraffe is missing, and much to Mickey Thompson's horror the ice-cream kiosk is closed! Can the Clumsies sort out this mess - or just make a much bigger one?


Ever since my daughter wrote to Sorrel Anderson and invited her to visit her class during a special month where the school were doing lots of book related activities she has been waiting for the next Clumsies book to be released. And now the wait is over......


This book tells the story of a day when Mr Pullerton has Nervous Exhaustion, Ortrud the Elephant is too loud and cumbersome to stay in the office and so everyone decides to visit the zoo where something is wrong - is Mr Pullerton to blame? The book is a great read and I would recommend it as the perfect book to buy the children for the summer holidays.


As with the other Clumsies books I love the style of the book. Most books for this age group are full of text with illustrations dotted throughout the book on a few pages however, Sorrell and the illustrator, Nicola Slater, another very clever lady, have planned the pages with interest on ever page. The interest may be a pencil drawing, interesting type face on specific words, words becoming part of the pictures or striking borders around the page. Looking through this book is encouragement to read it to find out what the pictures etc are referring to in the story. There are not only pencil drawings either, there are also some photo images interspersed too - another great quality of the book layout.


Sorrel Anderson's books are all perfect for children who like to read alone but they are also great for younger children who like to share a story. With the added page interest on each page for children to look out while they listening to the story and also are ideal for early readers who are becoming more confident to have a go at new books and try to read the next level of books.


I would like to thank Sorrel Anderson for sending this book to my daughter, but also for taking time out of her busy writing schedule and visiting my daughter's class. They all enjoyed it thoroughly and I think there are now more Clumsies fans in Worcester.