When eleven-year-old Artie and his newly blended family move into a creaky and rather spooky old house, he reminds his sensible science brain that he doesn’t believe in ghosts so the house couldn’t possibly be haunted. Anyway, the ‘not haunted’ house isn’t even the spookiest thing in his new life, as that would be his stepsister Willow — who has strong arms from aikido and wears an angry face.

When Artie finds an old spell book about monsters, he and Willow form an unlikely alliance and through mishap and mischief work together to make a monster. Artie only helps because according to science, monsters don’t really exist. Right? But then Hodgepodge appears, a very ‘not scary’ monster who farts a lot!

So begins a funny adventure romp, featuring a really bad, bad guy, an endearing monster who eats smelly socks, and a hapless pair of heroes. This is the new hot-hit series for young readers aged 7-10.

Natalie Platten is the assistant manager and children’s book buyer at Readings Doncaster.