If you haven’t come across Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam before, they are 2 loveable baker dogs who love to solve madcap mysteries on the side! This 2-colour fiction edition has 3 stories in it, the first of which has a festive feel as Shifty and Sam have been commissioned by Santa to bake him a Christmas cake. Upon arriving at the North Pole, however, they find that someone has stolen all the presents, and embark on an adventure to save Christmas! The other 2 stories find the mystery-solving duo searching for sea monsters and dealing with a not-so-lucky cat.
These books are brilliant for children who are growing in confidence as readers and beginning to read alone – they are also great for sharing. Each story is around 40 pages long, broken down into 3/4 chapters, with limited, accessible text per page; the bright and bold illustrations really help to bring the stories to life. I like the fact that the Christmas story has been accompanied by other non-festive tales, as it means there is more longevity to the book (for some reason my children only tend to read ‘santa’ stories at Christmas time). The whole family love these, which is probably why our current edition is looking rather dog-eared (excuse the pun!)…
