Artie has moved into a new house with his mum, stepdad and stepsister Willow. The house seems quite spooky to Artie, not that he’d admit that to anyone else. Artie doesn’t believe in ghosts, or dancing skeletons or monsters. He only believes in science.

The scariest thing in Artie’s new life is Willow, with her black fingernails, electric guitar playing and angry scowl. Her dad’s cooking is pretty scary too. One day, while trying to avoid all this and find a quiet spot to read his Junior Scientist magazine, he finds a dirty, old, chest.

Inside is a large, dusty book. The Bigge Boke of Fetching Monsters. He’d like nothing more than to leave the book in the attic but Willow doesn’t give him a chance, dragging him and the strange book into her room.

Inside the book is instructions to conjure your own monster – too exciting to ignore! Hodgepodge is born. He’s messy, destructive, eats socks and farts constantly. Following instructions in the book, Willow has given Hodgepodge a task, and he’s quickly onto it with disastrous consequences.

Maybe they made a mistake? Hodgepodge is really hard to handle. Should they take up a stranger’s offer to take him off their hands?

This is the first book in this junior reader series. Packed full of illustrations, lists, and fun fonts, this is 12 chapters of laughs, bringing a blended family together, especially step-siblings.

Hodgepodge is adorable with a hilarious superpower that can be very useful if applied correctly. Each book in this new series will be a stand-alone, but a broader story-arc will delight monster fans.

Author – Lili Wilkinson

Age – 6+

Find Teacher’s Notes and Fun Activities here

See a review for the 2nd episode in this funny series (Click on the Cover)

(Monster, Smell, Funny, Humour, Fart, Villain, Collections, Specimens, Spells, Blended family, Loyalty, Series)