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Dave Pigeon: Nuggets!
by Swapna Haddow
Dave and Skipper are shut out of the house, so Dave dictates a new plan involving chicken nuggets and a great deal of optimism.
A story about animals, funny and silly in tone. We would put it with children of 5–8, and at a reading age of about 6 for reading alone.
Nothing flagged
We have not flagged any content in this one that a parent would usually want warning about.
Part of a series
This is book 2 of the Dave Pigeon series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.
Our take on this book
Dave Pigeon and his hapless friend Skipper are pigeons at war with the Mean Cat who threatens their comfortable life at the human's house, and this instalment finds them scheming, blundering and narrowly escaping being turned into the nuggets of the title. Swapna Haddow narrates in Dave's gloriously self-important voice — the whole book is supposedly dictated by Dave and transcribed by Skipper, complete with interruptions and terrible plans — which is where all the comedy lives. It is short, packed with Sheena Dempsey's expressive cartoons, and perfectly pitched for a child just gaining reading confidence who wants something genuinely funny. The peril, such as it is, is entirely comic; the Mean Cat never really wins. For a six- to nine-year-old, especially one who responds to silliness and pictures, it is a laugh-out-loud series-opener that makes reading feel like a joke you're in on rather than a chore.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
Dave PigeonSwapna Haddow
The Cat in the HatDr Seuss
The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour DogJeremy Strong
Claude in the CityAlex T. Smith
The Diary of a Killer CatAnne Fine
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.