A new collaboration between author-illustrator duo Haddow and Dempsey is always going to be a cause for celebration (have you read the Dave Pigeon series?) but especially when it’s the first title in a new series of brilliantly bad early chapter books. And by that, I mean ‘bad’ as in ‘good!’

“Are you sick of being utterly adorable?
Tired of being cuddled and hugged?
Fed up of having your head confused for your bottom because you just so happen to be SOOOOPER-DOOOOOPER fluffy?

Lin: If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you’re in the right book.

Everyone thinks that Lin is the cutest panda in the world. So much so that they ship her off to the local zoo, away from her beloved brother, to be ogled at by the masses. But Lin HATES being cute, and now she will do everything in her power to prove that she’s the baddest, meanest, most un-cute animal in the zoo.”

I can see this series being a huge hit with readers. Anything featuring super-cute animals trying their very hardest to be totally rotten can only ever be utterly hilarious. Watching Lin the panda trying her very hardest to break away from her fluffy-wuffy image and failing is sure to have readers in stitches.

As well as being extremely funny, for me this book raised some questions about animals being kept in captivity and whether zoos should be places of entertainment. Lin’s heartbreak at being separated from her family at the sanctuary and the other animals’ feelings about being behind glass in a zoo may encourage children to think about the purposes of zoos.

The highly-illustrated format, use of comic book inserts, and a layout specifically designed to support easier reading makes this series a hilarious and interesting read, accessible to readers aged 5+

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Faber Children’s for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour*