Really great adventure! Would highly recommend for middle grade and would love to see more from this world!

Funny and full of mischief! I really enjoyed this - from the wonder characters to the incredible world to the whole inventive premise… this does loads for me! Made me laugh and gasp a lot!

I have been reading this with Riley since the New Year and we have LOVED it! Fun, fantastical and laugh out loud - it has all a kid's book needs to be a great bedtime adventure of a read.

Despite it being slightly longer than other books we have read previously, this one kept both of us interested and excited to read with a fab bunch of characters and a thrilling story line.

Highly recommend for those 8+ who will love this imagination fun-fest, as well as the parents reading with them!

My daughter read and loved this book, and insisted that I read it also. It was my first book by these authors and I found it very entertaining and imaginative. Highly enjoyable escapist fun - recommended for readers of all ages.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Children's UK, Chris Smith and Greg James for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Great Dream Robbery was whimsical with an interesting plot and laugh-out-loud writing! The concept of exploring people's dreams was very fun to read about and the characters were realistic and likeable. The writing was the best part and really suited the story well. Overall this was a great middle grade read that I would really recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

Maya has trouble sleeping, and when she does she has very disturbing dreams, because her dad is lying in hospital unable to wake up, but without any illness the doctors can find. One night a bizarre dream about llamas is interrupted by boy in orange trainers – whom she then meets in the real world. Together with his twin sister, they set about finding and rescuing Maya’s dad from the dream he has been deliberately trapped in…
A madcap adventure ensues in the waking world and the world of dreams, where the three children combat the dastardly plans of Maya’s dad’s boss, who has her own reasons for wanting to control dreams and rid the world of nightmares.
I enjoyed the plot and the idea for the story, and I am sure it will have wide appeal to its target readership which is a great deal younger than me! However I found the highly intrusive authorial voice quite irritating – younger readers will no doubt find it less annoying and quite funny, so it will probably go down well in our school library, and they will know the authors from the Kid Normal series which they enjoy.

Me and my son loved reading this book.
He does love a mystery so it’s great to find books that have great characters and a great storyline to keep his concentration and makes him want to read more.
We loved the kid normal series so we couldn’t wait to read this book.

When twelve-year-old Maya Clayton’s sleep expert father invented a special device that allows you to slip into other people’s dreams he was excited at the prospect of discovering more about the human imagination. What he did not plan was for his villainous boss of Somnia Incorporated, Lilith Delamere, to trap him in a nightmare from which he cannot escape.

Maya isn’t the only one who needs to stop Lilith, siblings Teddy and Bea have uncovered a terrible plot that involves their mum. It is time to assemble the Dream Bandits. But can they take down Lilith, shake-off General Pheare, defeat a crack squad of security goons, stop the dastardly plan and bring Professor Dexter back…

This madcap adventure could have only been dreamt up by the crazy minds of Greg James and Chris Smith, the duo behind the brilliant Kid Normal series. There latest book, The Great Dream Robbery, is part science-fiction, part mission impossible, part mystery that needs solving and a whole lot of fun.

The whole thing revels in silliness and prides itself on being utterly bizarre and riotously outlandish, no-one does story-telling this ridiculous better than James and Smith. Along with the non-stop story, there are zany fonts, ridiculous songs, appearances from the Chief Puffin - head of Puffin Books, made-up words, authors directly addressing the reader and encouraging them to read certain parts aloud and black and white illustrations all adding to the fun. The story may be about dreams and sleeping but there’s not a chance that kids will be falling to sleep whilst reading this, expect laughs and giggles long past bedtime.

Hilarious hijinks are in abundance as the three plucky kids, who are desperate to save their parents, dash in out of dreams, carry out daring hospital heists, encounter banana loving llamas and let their imaginations run wild in an epic battle finale complete with Phantasma Plasma, a breakdancing, beatboxing unicorn named Donald, line-dancing robots and a lot of custard. In amongst the madness there are subtle nods to facing up to fear, tackling things head on and putting demons to bed.

Honestly, I could sleep for days and not dream up anything nearly half as good as this. Brilliantly bonkers, wonderfully wacky and the kind of read that many children will thoroughly enjoy getting lost in!

Recommended for 8+.

With thanks to Greg James, Chris Smith and Penguin Random House for the advanced reader copy that was received via NetGalley.

After the success of the Kid Normal series, I was excited to receive the new novel from Greg James & Chris Smith. I have to say I certainly wasn’t disappointed, as I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to crazy end.

The Great Dream Robbery is full of rich language, descriptive paragraphs intwined within the humour. There is an endearing cast of characters, as well as the truly villainous character of Lilith Delamere. In an attempt to stop Lilith’s dastardly plan, there is an extremely bizarre battle involving a unicorn called Donald, a seal and an army of line dancing robots. This book could definitely be enjoyed in the classroom - probably as a class reader. Or as in my case, in the library for book club – as it has left me with a plethora of activity ideas.

LOVED this romp of a story! A real caper and a fantastic blend of science and dreams, a dastardly villain, and some bright young heroes bold enough to take her on! Had me snort laughing all the way through. Brilliant!

Already a huge fan of 'Kid Normal' series, Isabella was pretty excited when I told her that we had been given access to an early release of 'The Great Dream Robbery' by her favourite authors Greg James and Chris Smith. Okay, pretty excited may be an understatement... in actual fact, she screamed, jumped up and down and then pretended to faint.

Here is what we thought...

Bella - 101/10

It was AMAZING! This was even better than Kid Normal, and that book was my favourite (Don't worry Greg and Chris, it's still amazing) !!!

The story was CRAZY, and super WEIRD just like me!

Somnia Incorporated went from boring boring boring to fun, toilet jelly and unicorns! The banana llamas made me LAUGH OUT LOUD. I laughed a lot when the authors would interrupt the story, and the pesky puffin!

Maya, aka, Scribbles, Teddy and Bea were really cool and funny characters, especially Teddy who was very silly! I liked them a lot! I really loved that there were two really great girl characters who helped save the day and were good at science and being super spies! I really liked that it also had a good message and teaches you to face your fears, I think that is really cool!

I can't wait for this to come out because I want to buy it so much so I can look at all the pictures, they haven't been imagined yet, but i'm so excited!



Charlie - 10/10

Greg James & Chris Smith have done it again! Already fans of 'Kid Normal', just like Bella, I was also excited to read 'The Great Dream Robbery'.

I had so much fun reading this with Bella, laughing at the absolutely ludicrous characters and fantastical storylines! In a word, this book is: Fun, bursting with imagination and breaking all the rules! I am certain kids everywhere will LOVE it.

What a superb and action packed book this is. It is full of adventure, villains (not all as bad as they think) and a band of very likable heroes. The authors have gained a strong following over the last few years and they have definitely maintained the excitement that their readers have come to expect. A great read for the middle grade reader.

The Great Dream Robbery is the latest utterly ludicrous, sublimely ridiculous and completely off-the-wall offering from Chris Smith and Greg James. When 12 year old Maya finds out her father has been trapped in a dream, there’s only one thing for it - assemble the Dream Bandits and stage an imagination-fuelled rescue.

The Great Dream Robbery feels much like an imagination-fuelled riot! It’s bizarre, totally bonkers and I have no doubt it will be loved by children aged 8 upwards. It’s the perfect read for fans of Tom Fletcher and has a similar feel to The Creakers. I loved how the authors shattered all conventions by talking to the reader and including an incredible diverse range of asides such as flashback songs, publishers notes and instructions. This made the book feel very engaging and entertaining to read. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I’m a huge fan of the Kid Normal series so I was overjoyed to see that James & Smith have collaborated again and that I was approved for this review copy.

The idea of the adventure around and though dreams was fantastic, and the collection of characters were a delight in both the hero and villain stakes. It was so much fun and had me beaming throughout at the bonkers ideas that are pored into each chapter. So many cracking lines of dialogue that had me chuckling away and of course an epic classic Doctor Who concept thrown into the mix. What is not to like? I wanna be a member of the Dream Bandits!

I can’t wait to listen to the audio version, as I just know it will be as stupendously epic as the Kid Normal narrations.