Jeremy Strong is possibly my favourite of all children’s authors. For others I love see here and here
Jeremy Strong writes great slapstick books for kids aged about 6-10. They are slightly more aimed at boys, which is all good by me, seeing as I own two of them. He is a prolific writer, publishing a new book every few months, some as part of a series (Hundred Mile an Hour Dog, My Brother’s…) and others on their own.
His subject matter covers everything little boys love – dinosaurs, ancient Egypt, animals, bottoms, haunted houses and aliens to name but a few.
Killer Tomatoes is one of his stand-alone books and I think it’s probably one of his best. And I’m not the only one who thinks so – it’s won more awards than all of his other books.
It’s the story of Jack, a particularly accident-prone little boy, who is lying in hospital with a broken leg in traction. It’s about the characters he meets as he tries to piece together the story of the killer tomatoes… Just so you know, these are not tomatoes from your garden or the supermarket with massive teeth. They are tinned tomatoes, which in great enough quantities can prove hazardous. That’s all I have to say on that subject, you will have to read the book to find out more.
Try reading it out loud with your kids – use a few different voices for the characters. It’s brilliant and very funny and also quite believable.
If you’ve got 7 and 8 year old kids, I promise you will all enjoy this one.
September 21, 2012
He is fab! Took middler to a talk with him- one of the perks of working in the book trade- and he was really lovely and funny in real life too!
September 21, 2012
Glad I’m not his only fan! We went to see him too and he was VERY funny 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
September 22, 2012
I hadn’t heard of him before. My daughter is 5, is she likely to find it funny too or is she a bit young? xx
September 22, 2012
Oooh, this book sounds fab!! xx
September 23, 2012
It is a brilliant book, well worth checking out! Your daughter might be slightly young at 5, Emma, but all kids are different – my younger son listened to me read them when he was 5 because his big brother was listening too! She should definitely find it funny at 6.
Thanks very much for your comments 🙂