Danny Best: Watch this! by Jen Storer

Danny Best: Watch this! by Jen Storer
Illus. by Mitch Vane. ABC Books, 2020. ISBN: 9780733333361.
This is another of the humourous stories for boys to encourage reading for the disengaged. It has limited text, but maximum fart jokes, bum references, home-made sumo suits and silliness. Young boys will enjoy the naughtiness of the characters and the text, but adults will dislike the naughtiness! The book is divided into chapters which are anecdotal accounts of the bizarre life of Danny Best and his friends. At the end of each chapter there is a multiple choice quiz (a little like a comprehension test, but with more humour) and there is also a secret code that appears scattered through the text and amongst the illustrations.
Jen Storer has made a book with limited literary quality, but any author that can appeal to the disengaged reader has provided a service to those who promote reading. The illustrations in this book by Mitch Vane are quirky cartoons with backgrounds that look like a messy child's smudged notebook.
(Note: Name calling does occur as part of the first chapter, and 'Bumface' is tossed around at one point. If this is deemed problematic, then this book should be avoided). Themes: Short story; Humorous stories.
Carolyn Hull