Hairy holes book 2 by Brenton E. McKenna

When hairy monster Redley wakes up, somewhere in the outback, it takes a while to find his brother Begley who, in his new clothing brand ‘Beg Hole', is addressing his social media followers on a computer. Red refuses to wear the T-shirt but tries the herbal tea Beg is promoting, which has a stinkbomb in the bottom and an itchy grub aftertaste. Unbeknown to the brothers, they are being tracked by Ned on his computer, who tells his mum he is too busy to turn out his laundry as he is chasing monsters. Things get serious when Major Bartholomew Tuxedo knocks on the door wanting to talk to Ned about a new 'friend' he has made online. After a lot of bum jokes and improbable asides we learn that Ned believes he saw the hairy monsters in the outback when he was a kid and now wants to find them to prove to his mum he is not a loser. Major Bart Tux wants to find them as they are a threat to national security so they set out to the outback  to find the monsters.

This is the second book in the Hairy Holes series and I would recommend starting with book 1 as it took a while to get into, but once the reader gives in to the zany humour and energetic visuals the lack of logic doesn’t seem to matter. From the author of the very successful Ubby’s Underdogs series this too combines supernatural outback adventure but with unexpected twists like online influencers and a bizarre bingo hall. The inclusion of bad jokes and plenty of toilet humour will make this a winner with any junior reader and could be particularly engaging to reluctant readers.

Themes: Cartoon humour, Supernatural creatures, Social media, Outback adventure.

Sue Speck