Review: Miles and Jones: The Blizzard of Blobs

Amelia Miles and Shackleton Jones, along with their reluctant parents, hide under a tree to avoid being splattered with blobs of goop as they cross the park. Where are the blobs coming from? Who has brought the extreme weather? It’s a Blizzard of Blobs—and nobody’s got time to recap the previous book before the two adventurers are dragged into a new adventure protecting their favourite park.

Miles and Jones: The Blizzard of Blobs is the second in this series from Sam Smith and César Lador, and once again it’s full of humour, adventure, and danger. Glam Evil, the dastardly cartoon villain, has hit the kids in their most vulnerable place, by trying to take their best park, and then kidnapping their far-too-sensible parents. Alone, Shackleton and Jones have to save themselves from the blizzard, a magma river and a lava lake before defeating Glam Evil to take back their parents, who are of course incapable of saving themselves. Parents, huh? In amongst all this, there are fart jokes, whistling challenges, a haunted house, and in a nod to Book 1 of the series, scorched shoelaces.

Amelia and Shackleton are super heroes: they’re not sitting around waiting for solutions to appear. They’re resourceful, bold, determined, and will overcome obstacles in the nick of time. Sam Jones, Shackleton’s father, is the obligatory comedic character who trips over their own shoelaces and gets hit by the blobs, and Meg Miles, Amelia’s mother, is the opposite, a foil: competent, cautious and coordinated.

Designed for 5-8yr old readers, the black and white illustrations are classic comic for this age group: fast-moving, and clear. The text is funny, light, and easy for young readers to absorb. The author, who has a comedy background, and illustrator have put time into making this book laugh out loud funny, and more than anything that will capture its audience. The youngest reader in this house said ‘it’s good, it’s funny. All the characters have tiny noses except Sam Jones. I like that.’ So that’s his recommendation: when you’re racing through the pages, desperate to see what happens next, don’t forget to check out the noses.