The Last Sniffer; Snake-Pit School

These two books are part of a mini series of 'fast and funny fiction for independent readers'. Not only are they suitable for independent readers, but their style and format make them well suited for shared reading either with another child or an adult. Both books help to deal with common fears that children have to face. In The Last Sniffer, Daniel is woken up at night by a strange sniffing noise in his room - and in the morning, his baby brother no longer smells of anything at all. So Daniel decides to go in pursuit, even though he gets well scared in the process. However, it is his baby brother at stake, so he persists ... In Snake-Pit School, Mouse is a new girl who is scared of everything - especially the snake-pit that an older girl tells her is behind a blue door. Mouse overcomes her fear of snakes by reading about them and then becoming interested in snakes. The illustrations by Aston on practically every page are full of life, complementing the text well. Gates tells the stories in a lively way, knowing how to make a story un-put-downable; however, although I would agree that the stories are fast, I did not find them particularly funny. Rather they are exciting and full of life.