​Romeo Alexander Anton Silverio Fortez is a pygmy sloth. But not just any pygmy sloth. The night of his naming ceremony on the tiny island of Escudo where he was born, a fire rainbow erupted across the sky, lightning flashed, there was a shower of shooting stars and the rising moon looked magical.  Everyone knew they had just witnessed something incredible. As he grew, Romeo understood he was different to all the other sloths. He wasn’t slow like them. He was fast. Very fast. And he craved adventure and danger. He also developed hypnotic cuteness powers where all he had to do was look into someone’s eyes and they would forget what they had been doing and why they had been cross. He had become a Super Sloth!
The time came when Romeo knew he had to leave the island. He needed to be somewhere bigger, faster and with lots more happening than Escudo. New York City! It would be a bit scary and dangerous at first, but Romeo was up for it! This would be his destiny.
As soon as he arrived in New York, things began to happen. While he was admiring the famous Brooklyn Bridge, its pylons began to tilt, and the bridge began to sway. Everyone else ran the other way but Romeo ran towards the huge half shark, half wolf terrorising commuters. It held a young girl captive in one its enormous, clawed paws. A cheetah had also run towards the commotion. Together they freed the girl and the creature dived into the river below. Suddenly a pig appeared on a Vespa and yelled ‘Hop on!’ The pig, with the girl and Romeo in tow, sped away, with the Cheetah close behind. They quickly came to a cemetery and when the pig pressed a button on the Vespa, a huge panel of grass opened up beneath them revealing a ramp that led to the most amazing underground hideout.
The adventures of Romeo the Super Sloth, Tulip the Cheetah, Ham the Pig and Beth the young Crime Fighter had begun! Now all they had to do was find out where the mutant creature had come from, who had made it and how to stop them from creating more fearsome monsters. Look out evil Professor Weird Warp, your days are numbered!
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This is a rollicking, fast paced adventure story filled with incredible inventions, dangerous decisions, brave friends, superheroes, and very evil villains! Readers will be captivated from the opening page, with each chapter providing a thrilling ending to keep us wanting to find out more. Cheri Hughes’ superb black and white illustrations provide just the right amount of detail, leaving the reader with plenty of opportunities to use their own imaginations in the story. An exciting new novel for ages 8 - 12.
 
Teaching themes could include sloths, cheetahs, pigs, lemurs, superheroes, technology, inventions, villains, friendship, character traits, New York City and Brooklyn Bridge.

Find out more about Aleesah Darlison
Find out more about Cheri Hughes

Published by Big Sky Publishing
Release date: 10 April, 2023
ISBN: 9781922896537
Highly recommended ages 8 - 12. 

Mole. Max Mole. Secret agent. Well, not quite a fully-fledged secret agent - yet.

Max is on a mission to save the world from the bad guys – specifically Dr Nude and the extremely evil Eric Goldfish-Finger – so he can become the 007 of the animal world. But first, the secret agent judges have to agree that he has passed their tests. This is not as easy as it sounds for someone who thinks he has a foolproof, masterful plan to thwart the evil villains. If you ask his partners, Helena Hippo (the muscle) and June Bug (the brains), that’s not always – if ever - the case. He’ll have three chances to prove himself and, if he gets it wrong, they all fail.
 
In this hilarious new graphic novel from the very talented James Foley, we’ll see Max, Helena and June, try their best to defeat a despicable, robot suited mole rat and a maniacal, tank driving, bank robbing fish with a poisonous side kick. There are lots of explosions, tricky situations, toilets and laugh out loud moments that will engage and entertain readers. Two of my favourites are Mr W’s new acronym for the agency – The Official International League Exterminating Terrorism (T.O.I.L.E.T.), and the very clever play on words and images when the team figures out Goldfishfinger’s next move will be to try and steal the priceless, sold gold fishfinger, the new art work by Andy Warthog.
 
This is sure to be a much sort after graphic novel series for tweens and spy fans. So as Max says, 'Let's Rock and Mole!'

Supporting teaching themes could include friendships, spies, secret agents, animals, perseverance. 

​Watch the trailer for Book 1 below. 

Find out more about James Foley

Published by Scholastic Australia.
Release date 1 March, 2023.
ISBN: 9781761200151 (PB)
Highly recommended ages 9 - 12.