Evie and the Animals

Matt Haig's Evie and the Animals is an adventure for 9 year olds about a girl who can hear exactly what animals are thinking.

What happens

Evie Trench loves every animal going, not just the cuddly ones. Cockroaches, vultures, jellyfish, the lot. She knows more animal facts than most grown-ups (sea otters hold hands in their sleep so they don't drift apart, apparently).

She also has a secret. She can hear animals' thoughts, and sometimes she can make them hear hers.

Her dad has made her promise never to use it. Never talk back. It will lead to VERY BAD THINGS, he says, though he won't say what they are.

Then the school rabbit, Kahlo, begs for help. She says the head teacher took her from the woods and she's desperate to get back to her family. Evie knows she shouldn't. She does it anyway.

After that, everything starts to move. Her best friend drops her. A scruffy stray dog with a thorn in his paw becomes a new friend. And Granny Flora, who always has liquorice in her cardigan pocket, turns out to know a LOT more than she's been letting on.

The animals are the best part. Each one sounds like itself. Scruff the stray is cheerful, rude about house dogs and signs off with "sniff you later". A young sparrow called Beak misses the friends he hasn't made yet. Even a passing cat gets a sulky line or two.

There's real feeling in it as well. Evie is in her last year of primary school, her dad works late and doesn't talk much, and her oldest friendship is falling apart. It's very easy to be on her side.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Evie's mum died when Evie was tiny. That's backstory rather than something that happens in the book, but Evie thinks about her a lot and it comes up from the first chapters. There's also a frightening villain, a man who can take over animals' minds. Her dad calls him the most terrifying human monster. A child who has lost a parent might find this close to home. For an animal-mad reader who likes a bit of danger, it's a brilliant find.

What to read next

If they want more Matt Haig, try To Be a Cat. Barney is about to turn twelve, his dad has vanished and his head teacher calls the pupils weeds. And the narrator swears cats are magic and understand a thousand animal languages.