Frankie Sparrow and the Crinklebottom Curse

Ewan McGregor's Frankie Sparrow and the Crinklebottom Curse is a feathery detective story for 8 year olds about a young sparrow out to save a cafe in the treetops.

What happens

Frankie goes to sparrow school during the day. After school he works as a private investigator with his Uncle Charlie (bright green bow tie, messy files, always hungry).

Business is booming. So booming that Charlie quietly hands the scariest cases over to the pigeon police.

The case Frankie really cares about is the Bird Stop Cafe. A human called Mr Crinklebottom wants to knock down the trees it sits in and build flats. Johnny Fidget, the most jittery magpie you'll ever meet, is sure there's a curse. Whenever trees get in this man's way, something "unlucky" seems to happen to them.

So how do a couple of sparrows stop a property developer? Frankie gets a clever idea from his teacher, Mr Finch, about protected birds, and soon there's an owl parliament, a plan and a seagull who flies planes for a living.

Meanwhile the two pigeon detectives, Doolan and Twittery, have troubles of their own. The "small cat" Charlie passed on to them turns out to be almost as big as a tiger. They try talking to it. They try a net. It doesn't go well!

It's a busy, jokey read, with lots going on at once and a whole town of birds to get to know. Frankie is plucky and quick, and Charlie is the kind of uncle who panics first and gets brave later.

Crinklebottom is the sort of baddie children love to see get his comeuppance. He slips out of a tree and rips his trousers (bright red pants on show!), and gets a whole basin of water tipped over his head.

He does go further than pranks, though. At one point he sets fire to the trees on purpose while the birds are all away at a meeting. The birds work together to put it out and nobody is hurt, but it's worth knowing about if you've got a reader who worries about fires.

What to read next

Could your reader resist a detective with feathers? If they'd like to see how Frankie ended up in the detective business, try Private Investigator, the earlier book, where getting into trouble lands him with a holiday job and the pigeon police are chasing a nest robber.