Bone Head: Guardian of the Underworld
Jamie Gregory
Scholastic

Jamie Gregory’s debut book is an absolute hoot. It takes the form of a diary written by Bone Head aka Demise, skeleton guardian whose days are spent guarding the gates to Hades’ fortress. (with amendments by supervisor Mort who tampers with the text on every page – shown in green).

Bone Head is convinced he is THE BEST and is desperate to get his hero Hades to notice him: the trouble is Hades is hardly aware that he exists.

Then Bone Head makes a terrible mistake: he zaps a ‘little blobby demon’ that retaliates fiercely with a massive blob of smouldering goo, followed by many more, right at Bone Head. The gates of the Underworld are destroyed: Bone Head and Mort are summoned to the fortress by Hades and demoted to the kennels where they will dog-sit Cerberus, his famous ferocious three-headed hell hound. This, Bone Head decides, presents an opportunity to get themselves back into Hades’ good books but Mort quickly points out that both he and Bone Head are made of bones and dogs eat bones. Can the latter keep the two of them away from Cerberus’s jaws.

Of course the hound needs to be taken for walks. Bone Head has a great idea – to use one of Mort’s arms as a fetch stick. Five days later the hound walkers decide their charge needs a change of scenery. Another great idea… resulting in two dogless exercisers. All this in just a few days and still to come are air vermin – they that peck, flap, poop, fly and CAW! dragons and all manner of other beasties.

How will this all end? I’ll guarantee there are plenty more laughs to come but story spoiler I won’t be, just in case that Cerberus gets me in his jaws; instead I urge you to get yourself a copy of this hilarious, chaotic tale as soon as possible.