Another adventure of the fantastic Claude that is bound to be a favourite with the many fans that he has. A definite for most libraries.

Claude is the perfect book for 5-8 year olds starting to find independence in reading. One of the pioneers in the picture book / chapter book bridge genre the illustrations are hilarious and detailed - enough to keep a child poring over them. The writing is witty and erudite with a gently wicked and politely saucy sense of humour.

The character names are, as always, a delight and Smith clearly has a field day with naming royalty, as in this tale Claude and Sir Bobblysock accidentally become Royal Nannies while looking for cakes to fill their treat tin. Of course.

The humour works on enough levels to keep adults entertained if they are roped in to read.

An utter delight, as always.

And I’ve never felt more represented (and a little been attacked) than by the gorgeously affected Sir Bobblysock, who has lived a very eventful life and would now much prefer to have a lie down.

HE IS BACK! Yippee! Claude is here, with his trusty side-kick the most fabulous, Sir Bobblysock.

Filled with wit, warmth and super funny lines, Claude At The Palace - which involves holes and surfboards and sticky jam tarts - will have you giggling. How does he get into such scrapes... and out of them too?

Another lovely hit! The Claude series is just perfect for readers venturing into chapter books for the first time. They're also GREAT fun to read out loud.

Reviewed by Emma Perry, picture book author & founder of MyBookCorner