Rabbit Racer (Stunt Bunny)

Harriet Houdini, the amazing Stunt Bunny, is up against her arch rival Doodle the Poodle as they compete to secure their places on Superpets. If this were not enough, there is a serious challenge from Taz the Tornado, the racing moggy. It is time for some serious training – but what is going on next door? Will Harriet be able to keep her focus?

Tamsyn Murray writes with a strong sense of humour in her teen novels about Lucy the ghost as she does in this new series for younger children. Lively, opinionated, resourceful, Harriet is a character to enjoy. The first person narrative has the easy, conversational style of the true storyteller which pushes the story on – and the fact that the narrator is a rabbit only adds to the humour. While no Paddington or even Olga da Polga – their adventures are firmly rooted in reality – Harriet deserves to be noticed. The publishers have ensured that young readers will find the text easily accessible by choosing an attractively large font size that is well spaced;  the illustrative decoration by Lee Wildish does not overwhelm the text (as is so common) but adds just the right amount of visual humour. More substantial than many of the series currently aimed at emerging readers, this would be an excellent addition to collections for KS1 or early KS2 children.