Jamie Rix

11-year-old Alfie Pluck starts life with extreme bad luck - Dahlishly grotesque aunts who treat him as their Household Drudge. He comes across a doctor who has created a 'good luck' gene. The gene is currently lodged in the brain of a very lucky chicken whose luck runs out when Alfie runs away with it, and eventually eats it. Then the race is on to get hold of Alfie, or perhaps his brain..

The book is fast-paced, probably best for boys of around 8-11. There are plenty of villains, highly show more caricatured, most of whom come to a nasty end. Not for the highly sensitive or squeamish, and not in the class of Dahl as far as humour goes - nonetheless, a readable book that could be popular with today's children. show less

In my opinion this is a really good book to read to children. First, I liked this book because the illustrations fit with the written text. For example, when Jack would ask each person if they wanted the cookie, there would be a picture of the person. Jack asked his Gran if she wanted to cookie and on the same picture there was Gran and Jack with the cookie. The illustrations also helps enhance the story because children may not understand the words, but will understand if they are shown the show more pictures. Second, I liked this book because the language was patterned. I found that the language was patterned because Jack would do the same thing when he would offer the cookie to other people. Also, when he was with the alien, the same thing happened with the alien when he would offer Jack to other people. Third, I liked how the writing can be engaging. I found that the writing was engaging because if the children found a pattern, they could jump into the reading and the teacher would pause for the children to answer. The big idea of the story is to show children how to use their manners and how to share things before just taking it. show less

In this series of Alistair Fury he has big problems. His brother, sister, father, and mother hate him and he would do ANYTHING to get revenge on them. Sadly, his father is dying. Soon it will be to late, or will it? I think this book is a page turner 'cause its super funny, and its full of revenge!

Age appropriatness: primary
This book is a good example of sciene fiction because it is a story of a boy who goes to outer space and meets martians who want to eat him.
The media in this book is watercolor and ink.