Matt Stanton, Spookytime (Funny Kid #13), HarperCollins Publishers, October 2024, 240 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780733342011
Every new Funny Kid is keenly awaited in our house. We’ve actually had the audio version on reserve for a few weeks. This instalment is perfect for a Halloween-timed release date, because Max is making a spooky movie.
Everyone is going crazy for Horror Movie 3, which Max isn’t seeing – but not because he’s scared to. So when his class have a group assignment to make a movie, he convinces Hugo that it’s got to be a horror. Max is their obvious option to play the lead, but he’s directing, so instead they decide to cast the new babysitter, Alexander. And to keep Alexander’s reactions authentic, they aren’t going to tell him.
Of course, just as we’ve seen consistently through the series. Max demonstrates his usual overly confident, slightly inflated self. To counter him we get to see one of my favourite characters in children’s literature, Abby Purcell (her spirit animal is Hermione Granger). Abby has weaselled her way into also babysitting Max, Hugo and Rosie, so she is there to watch all the chaos unfold.
It might sound negative to say this is the same-same but different from the other books in the series, but that is huge complement. Surely after 13 books it’s tempting to bring in new elements, or there is the danger of veering off course. But Matt has done a brilliant job of keeping the characters true to their essence while still plonking them in new situations that will generate humour.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
