I love children’s books because they are always such a lot of fun to read. I think that sometimes books for adults become a little too serious and lack fun which authors that write for the younger age groups get to play with so much. For me children’s books, as I say a lot, are so important in kick-starting that reading love that is so important in a child’s development and if I can help parents out there with suggestions for certain books I’ll try my best. Just a side note if you’re waiting for Amazon and Goodreads reviews, they will be up there soon, I’ve been on a bit of go slow since the festival but they will be up there soon I promise. For now another fun and snappy story for your little ones.
Sporty and her best friend, Harley, are two young horses who play basketball for Horsecitty’s professional team called the Shorthorns. They’re also superheroes.
In this book their adventures continue as they go back in time to save the young Sporty from an alien attack that will leave both superheroes powerless. But with evil robots that are programmed to seek out their targets at all cost, how will Sporty and Harley stop the mechanical menaces?
If you like horses, if you like superheroes, if you like adventure and aliens, then you’ll love Super Sporty and the rest of the Horsecitty gang.
The first thing to note is that I’m coming into this series on the third book so I was a bit confused on starting this because it does just throw you in at the deep end but if I’m right the book follows Sporty and Harley who are trying to save the world from the terribly evil Blarg and Splatt. In this instance our heroes find out that the evil duo are planning to travel back in time to take away baby Sporty’s super powers. If they succeed Sporty will be unable to show Harley her super powers and all will be lost and our heroes will be unable to save the world in the future. Sporty and Harley have no choice but to travel back in time to protect baby Sporty and stop the villains taking over the world. *insert dramatic noooooooooooo.*
I thought this book was a lot of fun; it’s a mix of vivd imagination, funky and childlike illustrations and a real understanding of how to keep a younger audience engaged wholly in the story. The writing is packed with little punchy tit-bits and ways of making your little one smile. The chapters are short enough to hold the attention span of both child and adult and you won’t find yourself getting lost in the story or needing to explain lots of bits. It comes across really well and has a very amusing and entertaining vibe throughout. In terms of content the main characters are talking, flying super hero horses who can time travel, there are both aliens and villiains and a whole barrage of other interesting and exciting characters. What more could you want?
In terms of the age of the reader it does need to be a slightly older child unless they’re nine or ten because there are a few more difficult words interspersed but I can see this being a great book for children to take in to school and read aloud or at home before bed. It’s got enough intrigue to keep their attention but isn’t too complicated to stop their attention from sticking to the book. I think these books would be just as good being read aloud to a slightly younger child because voices could be added to the different characters to help distinguish and it could be made 6/7/8 year old friendly in that way. My only slight wobbles were one it does get a little ridiculous but I think as you continue it becomes almost like a caricature of a book; it is over the top, it is silly, it is complicated but only in the way that a child can bumble through picking up little bits. Additionally Icky and Troy do speak in what I would call baby voices which could be misconstrued; such as “Drakk say he turn good!” said Icky. “He just now unfreeze you. So maybe he be good.” As an adult I might worry that a child might pick this up as a copy cat style of talking but it’s only a small wobble.
Overall this is quite a complicated but easy to read book with some strong characters a real understanding of how to draw a child in and capture their imagination and pull them in. It has a humorous feel, some feel-good characters and a good use of heroes and villians. The speech may worry me as a parent but maybe I’m being a little picky. Definitely one for your burgeoning readers book shelf.
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