Marge The Collection: 9 stories in 1

Isla Fisher's Marge The Collection: 9 stories in 1 is a funny babysitter book for 6 year olds that brings the first three Marge books together.

What happens

Jemima Button is seven and her little brother Jakey is four. Jakey has two rules. He won't wash his hair and he won't eat broccoli. Ever.

Then Marge arrives. She's so small she only comes up to Daddy's armpit. Under her woolly hat is long rainbow hair, and she tells them she's a duchess with ten pets, including an albino water buffalo.

Mummy leaves a sensible list of rules on the fridge. Marge adds a few of her own. By bedtime there's been chocolate soup for a starter, a bathroom full of bubbles right up to the ceiling and a puppy sitting at the dinner table with chopsticks. (And somehow Jakey has eaten his broccoli, on a pretend bus.)

It's all told by Jemima, the sensible big sister, and that's what makes it so funny. She's terrified of getting into trouble and just as excited as Jakey, both at once. You're right there with her as they race round tidying the whole house in five minutes before Mummy and Daddy get home!

In the next story Marge takes them to Theo's fifth birthday party and changes "only one slice of cake" on the list to NINE slices. Jemima is worried she won't know anyone there, and it's sweet watching her make a new friend on the swings.

Marge's tales about palace life are the best bit. She once floated all the way to Wimbledon tangled in fifty balloons, and everyone saw her knickers! If your reader loves a grown-up who breaks all the rules, they'll love that Mummy and Daddy never quite believe a word of it.

The stories are short and bouncy, with lots of shouty words and sound effects, so they're great for reading aloud or for a newly confident reader to try alone. Nine in one book means plenty of bedtimes sorted.

What to read next

When they've finished all nine, Marge and the Secret Tunnel is another Marge book in the library. Jemima finds a mysterious hole at the bottom of the garden, and Marge turns up to babysit in a full pink ski suit.