Final verdict: Ridiculous and charming, SHOE WARS is a light-hearted and delightfully illustrated middle grade book that would be great for reluctant readers and early chapter book readers.

My daughters have come to that wonderful age where they can enjoy a chapter book being read to them at bedtime. I have looked forward to this for years. We have read and loved the majority of the Tom Gates series, and are all huge fans, so I figured Shoe Wars was going to be a hit. The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells...

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Liz Pichon’s imagination and creativeness bring us a story about right and wrong, good and evil. On the good side, we have Ruby and Bear Foot, children of Ivor, whose wife Sally died in a mysterious accident. The Foot family is trying to keep a particular shoe that Sally created before her death hidden. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... Readers who have devoured Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and the works of Raina Telgemeier will love the high-energy, hilarious antics of the Foot family from one of the largest names in the UK.

There are a lot of fun and entertaining illustrations throughout, as well, and that amde the book even more fun and enjoyable while reading. All in all, I could probably talk more about the amazing flying shoes, the annoying Walter, the epilogue which seems to promise more story, that people lived in actual shoeboxes (just a bigger more liveable size), someone who just seems neighbourly becomes epic, treat your minions with kindness or things will bite you in your butt, but let me just cut the review here and tell you all to read this fun, hilarious, shoe-tastic book.

Breaking out of the phenomenally successful Tom Gates series was never going to be easy but Liz Pichon's latest standalone adventure story, Shoe Wars, is arguably (I'd say definitely) her greatest achievement yet and forms a fabulous showcase for her very many talents. Ruby and Bear must outwit a bully, infiltrate a shady company, and rescue their dad all while keeping the shoes hidden. This can only mean one thing. It's . . . shoe wars! Pacily-written, wildly-imaginative and brilliantly-plotted, Shoe Wars has more than its fair share of real edge-of-the-seat moments and it's laugh-out-loud funny to boot (especially the *Foot notes which form a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the action.) There's an extra depth here too with important underlying messages about family, bereavement, grief, friendship, not judging by appearances and the importance of working together in the face of adversity. The need to support independent businesses against the huge corporations is also firmly at the forefront of the story - which seems more timely than ever in our current economic climate.