Matt Stanton, Bullies Beware (Fluff #1), HarperCollins Publishers, November 2023, 201 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780733342080
Matt Stanton, Mess Up (Fluff #2), HarperCollins Publishers, June 2024, 203 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780733342110
Another hit series for Matt Stanton with all new characters who have the same humour and heart we have come to expect from him.
Gilbert Morris, a slightly weedy, very playful kid, lives with his mum and his teenage sister Stacey in a caravan. The story of Gilbert’s dad is a bit of a mystery. In one book Gilbert tells us his dad disappeared in outer space, in another he was eaten by a sea monster. Either way, his dad is absent, and to fill the void his mum gives him Fluff, a bunny that one day starts talking back to Gilbert. Now the two best friends are inseparable and up to all sorts or antics and adventures.
In Bullies Beware! Gilbert faces off against his bully and neighbour Carl, who seems to relish the confrontation. Until Gilbert and Fluff use a drone to perform the most atomic wedgie in children’s literature. In Mess Up! Gilbert and Fluff destroy the caravan in an epic food fight, but even more chaos ensues as they try to clean up.
Full disclosure, our family are already huge Matt Stanton fans. I have lost count of the times I’ve read aloud or the kids have read Funny Kid and The Odds, and my girls adored the audio version of the Bored series, especially Evie’s story. So, I was pretty confident this new series would be of interest. I was totally right, all of my kids (ages 7-14) have been drawn in to this series, even if some of them are slightly older than what I suspect is the target audience.
These are short, highly illustrated, chapter books, which would probably get shelved near Real Pigeons or some Anh Do series. To my mind these stories are just a little more complex and deeper. Yes, there is heaps of fun and funny parts, but there is also a slight nod to the difficulties of childhood. My kids and I had a fairly serious discussion about whether we think Gilbert’s dad is dead, or if he’s abandoned the family. Either way, there are big emotions involved for a kid to deal with. And Fluff is a bit of coping mechanism.
I personally loved Gilbert’s explanation of his relationship with his teenage sister, Stacey. “Stacey’s the best sister, but she’s also very busy being a teenager, and being a teenager appears to be quite stressful. Stacey often has to yell at us to relieve some of the stress, but that gives us the chance to practise not taking things personally”. We now have a full-fledged teenager in the house, and while there is love, there is also a lot of practise in not taking things personally too. So, while Gilbert and Fluff’s world is slightly fantastical – I mean he has a talking pet fish – the emotions portrayed are completely relatable for the kids who will read this series.
I highly recommend this series for every school library, public library and for families. It is terrific for newly independent readers to get into as there are fewer words on each page and lots of brilliant illustrations (btw when are his publishers going to give us Matt Stanton’s work in colour?). With all the action and jokes, kids don’t want to put these books down.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
Read Lynne Babbage’s review of Bullies Beware!
