Review by my 7 year old.
This is the best story I've heard. I liked the Toad witches kid as he reminded me of myself. It made me laugh alot and I didn't want it to end. I can't wait for the next story!
The voice was clear and easy to understand.

hilariously laugh out loud funny. And I mean, every couple of sentences. 10/10 would recommend (already have)

Betty Steady, the guardian of Wobbly Rock, is brave of heart and strong of bicep but, dare I say it, a teeny bit big for her boots.
But when the Toad Witch's curse cuts her down to the size of a gerbil, Betty must learn that everyone need friends. Especially when you have to save your kingdom from evil.
I started listening to the wonderful audio version of Betty first thing this morning and couldn’t stop, until I reached the end.. Monty Python meets Blackadder at the back table of Year 2 classroom, this book is a perfect read aloud for home or school (if you can get any actual words out between the laughs). Fabulous characters, wonderful dialogue, joke after joke after joke which will have 7-9 year-olds and their adults laughing their BUMs off, all wrapped up in a rollicking, heartwarming tale of teamwork.
Betty and her friends (not to mention her enemies- special shout out to the Toad Witch's constantly mortified teenage son) cartwheel straight into the readers' hearts and leave us shouting as loudly as a farm-full of chickens on a rollercoaster for the next book in the series.
Long live Betty.
And her friends.

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

Betty Steady And The Toad Witch
Nicky Smith-Dale

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This will have you laughing out loud the whole way through - it did me, and I'm most definitely not the target age!!

This is most probably a book for confident readers - with a fair amount of written word and some great puns and hidden jokes - this was perfect for the target audience.
What I especially loved was that there were also some great additional jokes that I feel were aimed at adults too (the reference to bin day for example) which made this also a great one for us parents to read out loud to the younger readers - or even for siblings to read together.

Betty Steady is the Guardian of Wobbly Rock and always protects the realm all by herself!
When Betty comes under attack by the Toad Witch and gets zapped by a shrinking spell, she realises that she needs the help of her new gang of friends to outwit this foe!

This was packed with adventure and some very strange beings along the way.
I loved the names of each friend and creature and their descriptions were amazing, giving me a super clear and vivid image in my head of strange horses in cycling shorts and the knight Sir Loin Steak 🤣
Having had this on audio, again, I couldn't see if there were images within the book itself - but notice that there is an accredited illustrator and am certain that the accompanying images will provoke more hilarity and prompt further discussion whilst reading too!

The narration was brilliantly done - I loved all the crazy voices and sound effects which would definitely make this great fun to have playing in the car on school runs or long journeys.
This lasted around 2.5 hours overall so would be perfect to read in chunks over a few days.

A nice change to my usual thrillers that I have playing whilst doing the housework!
It prompted a few discussions with the husband and grown up children 🤣
Loved it!



💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕

Have you ever reached a point in life where you think you have something pretty well sussed and you can do it with your eyes shut, hands behind your back and standing on your head whilst eating hot buttered crumpets?! Well, we haven’t but Betty Steady certainly has!

This 12 year old heroine and guardian of Wobbly Rock can go out to battle in her sleep and doesn’t even have to try anymore…does she? All is just hunky dory and King Nutmeg of Wobbly Rock can sit back on his laurels whilst Betty takes care of any threats to the safety of his kingdom which lies between the nostrils of time and space! She is pretty brill and undefeated and her faithful horse, Simon Anderson is totally dreamy. Betty doesn’t even see the need to listen to B.U.M. (the Wobbly Rock Bi-Weekly Unabridged Memo of updates) until one day, things go terribly wrong. Can Betty learn that brawn isn’t always a measure of strength and that actually teamwork makes the dream work? Will she put her friends first or will she prioritise herself? Can the evil Toad Witch ever be defeated? And what has jazz music got to do with it all?

This hilarious debut aimed at little ones age 7+ had the Book Clubbers in stitches. Narrated by the ‘author’, Salvadore CatFlap, one of only two writers in Wobbly Rock, the laugh out loud, quick fire similies and the highly entertaining asides throughout provided much amusement to us all. The tongue in cheek nature of some of the humour makes this extremely enjoyable to read out loud to your little ones too. Our favourite character was Sir Loin of Beef and whilst the Book Clubbers didn’t necessarily totally appreciate the phrase ‘cooler than a whole disco of cool people in leather trousers’ it made the grown ups chortle!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for sending this eBook for review purposes. All opinions are our own.

Betty Steady and the Toad Witch by Nicky Smith-Dale narrated by Sebastian Humphreys

This is a fun middle-grade/KS2 book. Toad Witch cast a spell on Betty and now Betty has none of her size or strength, so how can she possibly take on the Toad Witch to get them back?

Friendships, new and old, forge the way. Join the band as they learn about individual strengths and the wonders of teamwork.