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Johnny Danger: DIY Spy (Peter Millett, Puffin)

Jonathan Dangerfield is a schoolboy who’d love to be a spy and so creates a whole world where he’s the hero of his own adventures (Agent Johnny Danger is his self-styled secret identity). In one such outing he foils the dastardly plans of an evil Professor by a mega methane pill and escapes by a volcanic fart—his weapon of mass indigestion. Yes, middle-grade kids with even a passing interest in the scatological will love this new series that’s billed as James Bond meets ‘Get Smart’. Johnny is co-opted by M16 to save the world from Dr Disaster (though due to an administrative error he’s known as Dr Disastrous). The super-villain, whose real name is Gerald Higglebottom, plans to infect every computer on earth with a virus called the Random Unexpected Digital Effect Embarrasser or RUDEE. Already the Queen has been a victim, having inadvertently been made to say ‘poo’ and ‘bum’ in a live address to two billion people. This book is a lot of silly, action-packed fun and will appeal to tech-savvy kids (age around nine and up) who love gadgets and the notion of bubblegum parachutes or bogey bombs—a spray that transfers your bogeys into high-grade explosives, of course.

Thuy On is a Melbourne-based reviewer and books editor of the Big Issue

 

Category: Reviews