Brittany & Co Take on Paris

Written by John Larkin

Illustrated by Rebecca Timmis

Reviewed by Jamie Willis

John Larkin writes for both children and adults. His previous books include How to Avoid Being Eaten by Sharks and Zombies Vs. the Illuminati. Rebecca Timmis is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, including the Mertales and Jawsome junior fiction series.

In Brittany & Co Take on Paris, Brittany and her friends are encouraged to create an extracurricular equestrian club but are banned from bringing their horses to school. They then come up with an alternative plan … to compete in The First Inaugural International Hobby Horse Championships.

The competition is in Paris and they’ve never ridden a hobby horse before, but they don’t let small obstacles like those get in their way. Instead, they raid the school’s art supplies to make stick horses and raise money for their trip by selling radioactive chocolate crackles outside the town bookshop. When they achieve their fundraising goal, headmistress Ms Tralala agrees they can skip school on one condition … that she accompanies them to Paris. Brittany & Co are elated and somewhat over-enthusiastic about their chances, given they decided to ‘get innovative’ about practising by not actually doing any.

John’s writing is dad-joke funny, with laugh-out-loud situations, such as the opening scene, where Brittany’s mum is pulled over by a police officer for transporting Brittany’s horse home on the roof of her car. The whimsical tone perfectly captures the voice of a spirited eleven-year-old girl and kids will giggle as they read Brittany and her friends’ wild antics.

Rebecca’s fun black-and-white illustrations add another layer of enjoyment and will make the story even more appealing to reluctant readers and kids transitioning from graphic novels and highly illustrated chapter books. One particularly funny drawing depicts Brittany imagining what their equestrian club might do without horses.

Brittany & Co Take on Paris is an entertaining middle-grade book with themes of friendship and resourcefulness. It is sure to be a hit with kids aged 8-12, who will no doubt reread it multiple times to relive the jokes and the highly enjoyable adventures.

Larrikin House 2024

John Larkin

Rebecca Timmis