Stick Boy by Paul Coomey

It's tough fitting in when you're born to stick out!
From the moment Stick Boy and his family move to Little Town, there is way more to worry about than being the new kid. There's a mysterious plot involving Baron Ben's new Mega Mall, pop star Jonny Vidwire and the highly suspicious HomeBots that are infiltrating every home in town. Can Stick Boy and his friends uncover the evil plan behind it all before it's too late?
An incredibly exciting and extremely funny new world for middle grade readers and fans of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, TOM GATES and TIMMY FAILURE.

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This is such a cute story. It does start very abruptly, so be careful about that, but once it's going it's going. There's no background, either, no explanation for why Stick Boy is a stick. It doesn't matter, though; he is a stick, everyone accepts it, and it works for the story. It's actually quite a good thing; several times Stick's special abilities are the key to getting out of whatever problem they're in at the minute.

I have to applaud the evil plan; it actually makes a lot of sense, and I'm now rather more suspicious of a lot of tech! It's hard to make an evil plan that isn't just EVUUUUULLLLLLLL, but this one really works.

The illustrations are brilliant. I'm so pleased that my proof copy came with illustrations; they don't always, and this really would have missed something without the illustrations. Part of the story is carried in them. This is going to be a brilliant series for people ready to move on from Dogman, or who are looking for something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 

I can't wait to see what else Stick Boy and his loyal friends get up to in future instalments.

Stick Boy publishes on the 7th January, 2021. Watch out for our entry on the blog tour in early January!