Book Review: Nina Peanut is Amazing by Sarah Bowie

I am so excited to be talking about this book on my blog today!

I was kindly gifted this book at the start of the month ahead of its release yesterday. First of all: WHAT A COVER! Secondly, I read this entire graphic novel in one sitting and it is brilliant.

Let me tell you more...

Here is the synopsis:

Nina Peanut – super-star in the making, frozen pizza chef, creative genius, owner of the world’s stinkiest cat. The funniest new friend for all kids, everywhere. 

Nina Peanut creates amazing videos - so why is it only her nan and best friend Brian who watch them? Surely everyone should be interested in her SERIOUS and NOT STUPID videos about potatoes with faces?

Nina dreams about being as popular as class queen bee Megan Dunne, who films NOT AMAZING AT ALL content of her pampered dog, Princess Trixie Bell. So when Nina’s stinky cat, Les, wanders into one of Megan’s videos by accident and goes viral, Nina and Les are suddenly internet famous! But is overnight stardom as wonderful as Nina always imagined it would be?

This book is author and illustrator Sarah Bowie's debut middle-grade novel... and what a corker it is! The premise of this book is interesting and relatable to children, especially those who like watching or making silly videos. 

There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially when it comes to social interactions. A personal favourite was the secret eyebrow code she does to her best friend, Brian. 

The illustrations are fantastic; so simple in their cartoon nature but incredibly effective. I love it when there is a diagram of a person, animal or place with quirky, humorous labels. I found the labelling of her bedroom particularly funny. The way in which it's written is so confident and self-assured that it adds to the comedic value of the story in a brilliant way.

I really do think Sarah Bowie has done a brilliant job with this book and I'm already excited to hear that there will be a follow-up book later this year! I will definitely be getting my hands on that!

This book is also described as:

• Hilariously funny, with themes of friendship/frenemies, big dreams, brilliant pets: hours and hours of reading fun guaranteed for kids
• Warm, offbeat wit and gorgeous, bright full-colour pictures throughout
• Perfect for fans of Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries and Lottie Brooks

The Lottie Brooks books are a firm favourite in my classroom at the moment, so I know many of my children will love Nina Peanut! I also have a little cluster of children who are really getting into graphic novels, so I'm sure this will be one they will want to get their hands on too! The last book I took in for them was such a hit that I've had to create a list for who gets to read it next and I imagine it'll be the same for this one.

The Scholastic team have also released an activity pack to go alongside the book, which you can access here. I'll definitely be printing these out at school to use alongside the book for my cosy book club next week!

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!