Skeleton Keys: The Wild Imaginings of Stanley Strange is the fifth adventure in this brilliantly fun series. More shenanigans ensue as ‘Ol Skeleton Keys returns for another fantabulous tale of daring and mishaps and, this time, he’s going out of this world …
Stanley Strange has unimagined his imaginary friend, Lucky, and then promptly disappears, leaving Lucky to face the wickedly sharp-witted Skeleton Keys and his partner, the backwards-headed, Daisy. The rather suave ‘Ol Mr Keys offers to help Lucky find his best friend which takes them through The Door to Nowhere, and into an incredible adventure …
Through this Door is the Kingdom, a world where no humans are allowed … oops … cause someone let a human enter! Who lives in a world like this? Only the most weird and wonderful creatures like the hedgehog with a unicorn’s horn, and it’s about to get even stranger! Luckily, the inhabitants of the Kingdom can only imagine good things, so what’s up with the dinosaur attack, the destructive robot and the space invaders!
The Kingdom is ruled by Lady Byrd who soon summons help from an old acquaintance of Mr Keys, ImagiNathan who is not exactly welcomed with open arms! In fact, the normally perfectly level-headed and reasonable Mr Keys might be about to show his more competitive tendencies. Will they be able to find Stanley before his wild imaginings destroy the Kingdom?
I really do love ‘Ol Mr Keys with his unique way with words, uber confidence and polite manner BUT then there’s Daisy. She is so unapologetically rude, wickedly funny and direct, but she also has hidden depths, well-hidden, and I love when I get a glimpse of the kind-hearted Daisy, the Daisy who cares about others.
The full- and partial-page illustrations by Pete Williamson are absolutely stunning, full of expression and capturing this strange and wonderful world brilliantly.
This is such a playful, humorous and exciting adventure, with unexpected twists, that it is sure to capture and delight the imagination of its readers. As with the other books in this series, I have no doubt that the children in my class will be desperate to get their hands on this new adventure.
Thank you to Little Tiger for a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Book Craic 