Lexie Moon & the Word Burgling Bungle

By Melissa Garside 
Illustrated by Lauren Mullindor

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

This debut novel reflects the author’s love of wordplay. It is a fast paced story about a girl who loves to invent things, more since her Grandad moved in with the family. He is her main support in her endeavors. Her latest masterpiece is the Vocabuliser, a thing that looks a bit like a hand held vacuum cleaner but is designed to improve people’s vocabulary. Things go spectacularly wrong when the device is stolen by the evil Gizmo Lightfinger and it is up to Lexie, with Grandad’s help, to fix things.

Fast paced and inventive this story gallops along with Lexie constantly coming up with solutions to difficult situations. She is calm, resilient, doesn’t panic (much) and sets a great example in taking responsibility for her own errors. Girls inventing things are not new in children’s books but they are mainly biographies of real people,  so it is great to see a fictional one in action. I don’t know about the science required to create a Vocabuliser, but that is not as important as presenting a positive view of a girl enjoying wielding her special talent supported by her loving family.

At 86 pages, with large print and numerous black and white line illustrations this is a perfect junior reader.

Riveted Press 2025

Melissa Garside
Lauren Mullinder