It’s that time of year when minds turn to new shoes, crisp new notebooks and tricked-out pencil cases – Back to School time! And it’s no different at St. Grizzle’s, the boarding school with a difference…..

St. Grizzle’s School for Girls, Goats and Random Boys is the very first title in the series and tells us how Dani first ends up at the slightly unusual School. When Dani’s mum heads off to the Antarctic to study penguins, she leaves her at St. Grizzle’s. A boarding school with no uniform, no rules and where total chaos.  Packs of feral eight-year-olds prowl the corridors, a head-butting goat roams free and the head teacher wears a plastic spoon crown. At first Dani misses her old school and best friend desperately and can’t see how she’ll ever be happy in such a crazy place. Will they ever win her over?

Crazy fun and the beginning of a great new ‘school’ series.  I loaned this an avid reader I know who proceeded to read it solidly overnight (including on the floor of the supermarket) and gave it back to me the next day asking for another. Of course, I obliged!

St. Grizzle’s School for Girls, Geeks and Tag-Along Zombies is the second book in the series.  Dani has settled into her new school and is having a fantastic time until Arch, her best friend back home, posts a rather glum mini-movie featuring loo roll zombies. Despite Dani’s concerns, he won’t admit to anything being wrong. Then there’s the new girl, Boudicca, who’s super-smart but also a bit of a mystery.  She won’t talk to anyone and has a strange habit of disappearing in the night. What’s going on?

Again, I gave this to my avid reader friend who returned it the next day with a post-it note attached which said the following:

“I really like this book because it made me smile and giggle. I couldn’t put it down and even read it in one night!”

Can’t get better than that!

St. Grizzle’s School for Girls, Gremlins and Pesky Guests is the latest installment in this brilliant series and things should be pretty perfect as Dani’s best friend, Arch, is now also a pupil there.  However, their head teacher thinks it’s time to make friends with the rival local school, Twittering Primary. Not good  that’s where snobby Spencer and his gang go.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not on the pupils’ side and Twittering Primary is flooded, forcing all the student to temporarily move into St. Grizzle’s!

The warning signs are there from the moment St. Grizzle’s lines up outside to welcome the Twits to their school. Why is head teacher Lulu wearing a smart skirt and shoes? Why have Newt class been told to get down from the trees and wash their faces? Why is Twinkle the goat on a lead? Surely this can all only mean trouble?

The perfect series anyone aged 7+ who likes to laugh.  Full of crazy antics, wild children, fun and mayhem – but with real heart and a tremendous sense of family. Becca Moor’s hilarious illustrations make these books really engaging and perfectly capture the highs and lows of life at St. Grizzle’s.

Library Book.

*Many thanks to Stripes Books for sending me these titles to review*