Dave Pigeon

The full title of this first book from Swapna Haddow is How to Deal with Bad Cats and Keep (most of) Your Feathers. Dave Pigeon and his sidekick Skipper think they’re on to a great thing when they are taken to a new home by a kind Human Lady cat owner with a kitchen full of their favourite food - biscuits. But the cat is called Mean Cat and first they have to work out a way to get rid of it. Everything is seen from the pigeons’ viewpoint, with Skipper writing down the story under instruction from Dave, who sees himself as a bird of great talent, bravery and intelligence. When the house and garden get overrun with all the birds in the area, led by the great Selentrus Vastanavius the Fifth , Leader of the Macaw Elite, it’s time to hatch a new plan!

Swapna Haddow has devised an original new character in Dave Pigeon, who’s not the cleverest at working out plans, and the dialogue between Dave and Skipper is very funny. Sheena Dempsey’s illustrations are perfect for bringing the story alive and the layout including lots of use of speech bubbles makes this a really enjoyable read for children just moving into chapter books.