Drop Dead, Danielle

If you are looking for a follow-up to the ‘Horrid Henry’ series, with a protagonist as anti-social as Henry himself, look no further! Tom Bean, who is the anti-hero of the ‘Totally Tom’ series, has all the qualities that teachers hope children in their class will NOT have; consequently what Tom gets up to in school will be relished by his fans. In this latest book, Tom manages to rescue a runaway pony, sabotage his brother’s date with his girlfriend, and continue the feud with Danielle. But is he really guilty of flooding one of the cloakrooms, as Danielle maintains? The illustrations by Layton are humorous, and match the story well; the somewhat anarchic tone of the book reflects current realities in school to a ‘t’, but will not appeal to everyone.