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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Every story needs a hero - this time it’s YOU!
It’s your first day at Bash Street School!
You can’t wait to become an awesome Bash Street Kid, but something weird has happened …
All the teachers have DISAPPEARED!
The battle is on to answer one question: what should they do with the school? Make new friends and decide what YOU want to do in this epic new adventure where you’re the main character.
YOU RULE THE SCHOOL!
You and your family have just moved to Beantown - in fact, you live just a few doors away from Dennis and Gnasher - and today is your first day at Bash Street School. You have been told that you will be joining Class 3C (which is taught by Miss Mistry) and you’re to report to reception so that you can be registered and given directions to your class.
The problem is that when you get to Bash Street School all the teachers have disappeared! Now a battle is breaking out between Walter Brown and his Circle of Power and Dennis and his chums about what they should do without the teachers present.
You have to decide who you want to join and what you want to do in this CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style story that puts you right into the middle of the BEANO world!
This CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style novel is the first in an illustrated series for readers aged 8+ by Craig Graham and Mike Stirling. It’s a lot of fun, giving readers the chance to hang out with Dennis and chums and offering laugh out loud moments while fleshing out Walter and his flunkies. My only complaint is Vivian Truong’s Manga-style approach to the characters’ eyes, which took my out of the experience (although otherwise work well).
I have said this elsewhere but back when I was a kid, I was a massive fan of CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE and FIGHTING FANTASY books. I played them for hours and loved the idea of being in control of the story. I was also a big fan of the BEANO so I was excited to see the two formats come together, especially as having read a number of the BEANO tie-in novels previously, I’ve enjoyed how good the storytelling is and how Graham and Stirling stay true to the silly humour and pranks of the comics.
The first thing to make clear is that unlike the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE and FIGHTING FANTASY books of my youth there are no deaths in this book - you don’t have to worry about choosing an option that leads to your demise. Nor do you have to worry about anyone being slippered or caned - the BEANO is very different now to what it was like in the 1980s. The other thing to say is that actually all routes lead to the same ending - but I think that’s a good thing because it does give you a chance to explore different elements in the BEANO world.
There’s all the usual BEANO humour in this book - from zany tricks and pranks to some very funny slapstick (which is very difficult to do), which made me laugh out loud (notably an option involving an elephant called Ellis). I also liked the way that some of the options give you a chance to hang out with Walter and his Circle of Power, which fleshes out Walter as a character but also one of his lackeys called Bertie, who actually comes across as a pretty nice person.
My only criticism of the book lies in Vivian Truong’s illustrations. For the most par these all work really well and add to the humour in the text but the stylistic decision has been made for the BEANO characters to all have Manga style large eyes and to me that just looked really weird and kept pulling me out of the story. That’s no shade on Truong and I will stress that it is very much a personal thing, but it was something that didn’t work for me.
Other than that, I thought that this was a lot of fun and the format may work well with young readers who find conventional storytelling a bit boring. As such, I think this is definitely worth a look and I will definitely be keen to check out more books in this series.
The Verdict:
This CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style novel is the first in an illustrated series for readers aged 8+ by Craig Graham and Mike Stirling. It’s a lot of fun, giving readers the chance to hang out with Dennis and chums and offering laugh out loud moments while fleshing out Walter and his flunkies. My only complaint is Vivian Truong’s Manga-style approach to the characters’ eyes, which took my out of the experience (although otherwise work well).
BEANO - THE DAY THE TEACHERS DISAPPEARED was released in the United Kingdom on 4th January 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
It’s your first day at Bash Street School!
You can’t wait to become an awesome Bash Street Kid, but something weird has happened …
The battle is on to answer one question: what should they do with the school? Make new friends and decide what YOU want to do in this epic new adventure where you’re the main character.
You and your family have just moved to Beantown - in fact, you live just a few doors away from Dennis and Gnasher - and today is your first day at Bash Street School. You have been told that you will be joining Class 3C (which is taught by Miss Mistry) and you’re to report to reception so that you can be registered and given directions to your class.
The problem is that when you get to Bash Street School all the teachers have disappeared! Now a battle is breaking out between Walter Brown and his Circle of Power and Dennis and his chums about what they should do without the teachers present.
You have to decide who you want to join and what you want to do in this CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style story that puts you right into the middle of the BEANO world!
This CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style novel is the first in an illustrated series for readers aged 8+ by Craig Graham and Mike Stirling. It’s a lot of fun, giving readers the chance to hang out with Dennis and chums and offering laugh out loud moments while fleshing out Walter and his flunkies. My only complaint is Vivian Truong’s Manga-style approach to the characters’ eyes, which took my out of the experience (although otherwise work well).
I have said this elsewhere but back when I was a kid, I was a massive fan of CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE and FIGHTING FANTASY books. I played them for hours and loved the idea of being in control of the story. I was also a big fan of the BEANO so I was excited to see the two formats come together, especially as having read a number of the BEANO tie-in novels previously, I’ve enjoyed how good the storytelling is and how Graham and Stirling stay true to the silly humour and pranks of the comics.
The first thing to make clear is that unlike the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE and FIGHTING FANTASY books of my youth there are no deaths in this book - you don’t have to worry about choosing an option that leads to your demise. Nor do you have to worry about anyone being slippered or caned - the BEANO is very different now to what it was like in the 1980s. The other thing to say is that actually all routes lead to the same ending - but I think that’s a good thing because it does give you a chance to explore different elements in the BEANO world.
There’s all the usual BEANO humour in this book - from zany tricks and pranks to some very funny slapstick (which is very difficult to do), which made me laugh out loud (notably an option involving an elephant called Ellis). I also liked the way that some of the options give you a chance to hang out with Walter and his Circle of Power, which fleshes out Walter as a character but also one of his lackeys called Bertie, who actually comes across as a pretty nice person.
My only criticism of the book lies in Vivian Truong’s illustrations. For the most par these all work really well and add to the humour in the text but the stylistic decision has been made for the BEANO characters to all have Manga style large eyes and to me that just looked really weird and kept pulling me out of the story. That’s no shade on Truong and I will stress that it is very much a personal thing, but it was something that didn’t work for me.
Other than that, I thought that this was a lot of fun and the format may work well with young readers who find conventional storytelling a bit boring. As such, I think this is definitely worth a look and I will definitely be keen to check out more books in this series.
The Verdict:
This CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE style novel is the first in an illustrated series for readers aged 8+ by Craig Graham and Mike Stirling. It’s a lot of fun, giving readers the chance to hang out with Dennis and chums and offering laugh out loud moments while fleshing out Walter and his flunkies. My only complaint is Vivian Truong’s Manga-style approach to the characters’ eyes, which took my out of the experience (although otherwise work well).
BEANO - THE DAY THE TEACHERS DISAPPEARED was released in the United Kingdom on 4th January 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
