The Incredible Shrinking Girl

Lou Kuenzler's The Incredible Shrinking Girl is a fizzing, funny adventure for 9 year olds about a girl who shrinks to the size of a fish finger on the most important day of her life.

What happens

Violet Potts has waited her WHOLE life to ride Plunger. It's by far the tallest ride in the theme park. She's ten now, and she's finally measured at one point four metres. Tall enough!

She's standing at the measuring line in the queue when her toes start to tingle. Then she drops. Down past everyone's knees, all the way to the ground, until an earthworm looks like a python.

Nobody can hear her tiny voice. What follows is its own theme park ride. She clings to her dad's shoelaces. She falls into his drink (it's lemonade, not water like he told Mum!). Then she gets flung into a bin full of half-eaten burgers and milkshake. Who knew a litter bin could be so terrifying?

Violet's a great narrator. She's loud, a bit bossy and really rather brave. She has a running war with her fourteen-year-old sister Tiffany, who has stapled a dressing-gown cord across their bedroom floor as a border. You'll recognise that one if you've got siblings sharing a room!

But the best bit is her gran.

Gran lives at a retirement home and paints her toenails purple. When Violet visits, Gran leans in and whispers something astonishing. She used to shrink too, when she was Violet's age.

Then, right when Violet's desperate to find out more, a rumour starts going round the home. People are calling Gran a thief. And a girl who can shrink to the size of your thumb might be exactly the right person to find out who's really behind it.

It's silly and warm in equal measure. The shrinking scenes zip along and the family bits are very funny (Mum meditating in the queue, Dad glued to his phone). And the whole thing is really about Violet and her gran and a secret that runs in the family.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Violet's back in Shrinking Violet Definitely Needs a Dog. She's campaigning hard for a puppy, the spinach stew is flying, and her toes are starting to tingle again.