Title: Spy Toys
Author: Mark Powers
Illustrator: Tim Wesson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s

Teacher reviews

‘I really did laugh out loud’

Spy Toys: a brand new, action-packed adventure, where toys become spys. Dan the bear and Arabella the rag doll - faulty rejects from the Snaztacular Ultrafun toy factory - join forces with robot police-rabbit Flax, on a secret mission. 

The unlikely trio are soon caught up in their first, fast-paced mission. Their endeavour to protect the prime minister’s son is packed with humour (yes, I really did laugh out loud reading this book on a train).

This book would appeal to children who enjoy excitement, danger, thrills and most of all, fun in their reading. I’d suggest it would be a great book for reluctant readers, and the techy toys would certainly appeal to children who love gadgets. 

However, I also loved how the toys - Dan the bear especially - developed, showing integrity and decision-making skills along the way. This set them up perfectly for book two, Spy Toys: Out of Control. Our children are already asking when we can have a copy for the school library. 

It’s been great to see our Year 2 class so enthused by this book, and to see the amazing work they’ve produced, inspired by it. 

Sally Hamerton is school librarian at Crondall Primary in Hampshire. She tweets as @HamertonSally

‘Inspired our story-writing’

The whole of my Year 2 loved this book. They describe it as fun, emotional and at times, scary. We have used it over two weeks to inspire our story-writing. We created new Spy Toy characters, and have written our own Spy Toy story. We have had a fabulous time enjoying this fun book. 

A fantastic children’s book, introducing some new and exciting characters. All the children loved it. We can’t wait for the next book. 

A great book to use as a focus for a school topic. A great starting point to get boys into writing. 

Ideas for using this book across the school curriculum: 

PSHE: Dan learns to control his strength - what can we learn to control in our lives? 

English: inventing new characters 

Writing: writing our own Spy Toys story 

Reading: comprehension skills 

Design technology: making our own spy toys 

Elaine Lee is Year 2 teacher at Crondall Primary. 

Pupil reviews 

‘Strange, funny, mysterious and weird’

In this story there are three toys called Dan, Arabella and Flax. They are trying to save the prime minister’s son from a baddy who wants to kill him by spraying a mayonnaise bomb. 

Dan is a teddy bear, Arabella is a doll and Flax is a rabbit police officer. My favourite character is Flax; he is energetic and a funny police officer, with some very cool black shades. 

I loved this book. It is sometime strange, funny, mysterious and weird. My favourite part of the book was when Flax shot peanuts at Rusty Flumptrunk, who is allergic to peanuts. 

 I would recommend this book for any child between six and eight years old, because it is sometimes quite mysterious. 

 Annabel, Year 3

‘Very adventurous and action-packed’

I liked this book because it is funny, very adventurous and action-packed as well as a mystery. 

My favourite character is Dan the bear because he is strong and a leader. If I could invent a toy, it would be something like Dan the bear. 

I really liked the bit where Dan met the soldier with a foot for a head. 

I cannot wait for the second Spy Toys book and I think all school libraries should have this book! 

It is a good book for Year 3 upwards because there are some tricky words. 

Charlie, Year 3

‘Very fun’

The faulty toys, Dan, Arabella and Flax become spy toys, and their mission is to save the prime minister’s child from Rusty Flumptrunk. 

My favourite part of the story is when they took the skipping rope out of the packet, because it sang lots of songs really loudly and almost got Dan into serious trouble. 

My favourite character is Arabella because she is very violent and she keeps getting very angry. 

The part I liked least was when Patsy the Poodle ate the foot-headed soldier, because I kept thinking Dan and Arabella would get eaten too. 

I would recommend the story to a friend because it is very, VERY fun! 

Eva, Year 2 

‘Muscly and energetic’

In this story, there are three toys called Dan the teddy bear, Arabella the rag doll and Flax. My favourite character was Dan because he is very muscly and energetic. 

I enjoyed this book because it was adventurous and really funny. 

My favourite part was when Rusty Flumptrunk came up with the idea of a mayonnaise bomb! 

I give this book five stars out of five and would recommend it to six to eight year olds. 

Madison, Year 3 

If you or your class would like to write a review for TES, please contact Adi Bloom at adi.bloom@tesglobal.com

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