Chicken Mission: The Mystery of Stormy Island

Jennifer Gray's The Mystery of Stormy Island is a daft, action-packed spy adventure for 8 year olds starring three kung fu chickens and a very clever owl.

What happens

Meet Professor Rooster's secret squad. Amy is small, brave and brilliant at wrestling (less brilliant at reading). Ruth is the brainy one, with spectacles and a grey scarf. Boo is the gymnast with honey-coloured feathers right down to her toes.

They live in secret in some old potting sheds and take their orders from Professor Rooster over a laptop. Things have been quiet for ages. Amy's actually a bit bored.

Then the professor introduces their new enemy. Vladimir Alexei Raptorov is an eagle owl, bred in a lab and made smarter than any bird on the planet. He's hiding in the caves on Stormy Island, just along the coast from a caravan park full of unprotected chickens. And his one weakness? Tchaikovsky. Classical music sends him into a trance.

To make matters worse, the professor sends them some help. James Pond. A show-off mallard in a bow tie that doubles as a laser torch, whom the chickens can't STAND.

This is the kind of book that makes you giggle at the silliness and then sneaks in real facts while you're not looking. Ruth's science lesson about chickens being related to the T. rex is lovely. And the cave on Stormy Island is full of split-open fossil stones. What does an owl want with those?

The villain from the earlier missions, Thaddeus E. Fox, gets his own chapter too. He's hiding under a blanket in his burrow, being treated for a fear of chickens. It's very funny (poor Thaddeus).

A heads-up on the owl, though. Raptorov's nickname is Vlad the Impaler, because of how he deals with his dinner, and he snatches a rabbit in the very first pages. It's all played for dark laughs rather than scares. A child who's upset by animals being eaten might still wince.

The gadgets are ridiculous and Amy's tummy has a habit of rumbling at exactly the wrong moment. Great for a reader who wants a proper mission with plenty of jokes.

What to read next

For more of Amy, Ruth and Boo, try Chaos in Cluckbridge, where a deadly queen cobra slips out of the city zoo one night.