Varjak Paw by S F Said and Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

When I collected my ten year old from school last Friday he came out of the classroom with a sad face. Apparently his teacher had said "No more questions. Home time!" This was understandable, it was Friday afternoon after all. But the question he wanted to ask was permission to borrow Varjak Paw from the classroom library. She had read the back of a few newly purchased books to the class and this was one of them. He desperately wanted to be the first to get it. Being the pushy mum that I am, he was whooshed back into the classroom to try again to ask and of course, she gave him the book.

Nice, inky drawings.

Varjak Paw is a Mesopotamian Blue kitten. But his eyes are not the same beautiful green as the rest of his family. They are yellow, the colour of danger, according to some. And he has a sense of adventure, unusual too for his breed. Its a lovely read, beautifully written and manageable from age eight or nine.

And he said "It's epic and brilliant."

Meanwhile, on my eight year olds' pillow is Henry and Beezus. Its the second in a series, the first being Henry Huggins, and has enjoyed both a lot. The description of Henrys' bubblegum was so mouth watering, apparently, that he badly needs to get some Hubba Bubba on the way home from school today. And we probably will.

Henry lives on Klickitat Street in Portland Oregon and first appeared in 1950. He was written by Beverly Cleary, as the little boys in her library were always searching for books about "boys like us." She also wrote the Ramona series, for girls, which became more popular than the Henry one, and is also still in print. (Theres a movie with Selena Gomez playing the lead role. )

Both series would be great for anyone who needed a nudge-along from Wimpy Kid, and I should add that I first heard about them on the great blog Thingummery.